Childhood predictors of adult fatty liver. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background & Aims: Fatty liver is a potentially preventable cause of serious liver diseases. This longitudinal study aimed to identify childhood risk factors of fatty liver in adulthood in a population-based group of Finnish adults.

Methods: Study cohort included 2,042 individuals from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study aged 3-18years at baseline in 1980.

Prolonged sleep restriction induces changes in pathways involved in cholesterol metabolism and inflammatory responses.

Sleep loss and insufficient sleep are risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases, but data on how insufficient sleep contributes to these diseases are scarce. These questions were addressed using two approaches: an experimental, partial sleep restriction study (14 cases and 7 control subjects) with objective verification of sleep amount, and two independent epidemiological cohorts (altogether 2739 individuals) with questions of sleep insufficiency. In both approaches, blood transcriptome and serum metabolome were analysed.

Repeated Blood Pressure Measurements in Childhood in Prediction of Hypertension in Adulthood.

Hypertension may be predicted from childhood risk factors. Repeated observations of abnormal blood pressure in childhood may enhance prediction of hypertension and subclinical atherosclerosis in adulthood compared with a single observation. Participants (1927, 54% women) from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study had systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements performed when aged 3 to 24 years.

Television viewing and fatty liver in early midlife. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Introduction: Both sedentary behaviour and fatty liver are associated with increased risk of obesity and non-communicable diseases, but their relationship remains unknown. We investigated the relationship of television (TV) viewing time with serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and Fatty Liver Index (FLI), and ultrasonographically assessed liver fat.

Methods: A total of 1,367 adults of the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (748 women, 619 men, aged 34-49 years) had fasting serum GGT, triglycerides, weight, height, and waist circumference, and self-reported TV time data from 2001, 2007, and 2011.

Lifetime measures of ideal cardiovascular health and their association with subclinical atherosclerosis: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: The American Heart Association recently defined 7 ideal health behaviors and factors that can be used to monitor ideal cardiovascular health (ICH) over time. These relate to smoking, physical activity, diet, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, blood glucose and total cholesterol. Associations between repeated measures of ICH across the life-course with outcomes of subclinical atherosclerosis in adult life have not been reported.

Adult dyslipidemia prediction is improved by repeated measurements in childhood and young adulthood. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: Prediction of adult dyslipidemia has been suggested to improve with multiple measurements in childhood or young adulthood, but there is paucity of specific data from longitudinal studies.

Methods And Results: The sample comprised 1912 subjects (54% women) from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study who had fasting lipid and lipoprotein measurements collected at three time-points in childhood/young adulthood and had at least one follow-up in later adulthood. Childhood/young adult dyslipidemia was defined as total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) or triglycerides (TG) in the highest quintile, or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the lowest quintile.

Interactions between genetic variants and dietary lipid composition: effects on circulating LDL cholesterol in children.

Background: Elevated serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a predictor of cardiovascular disease events, and the quality of dietary fat is known to influence serum concentrations of LDL cholesterol in children. Interindividual differences in response to diet exist, but the underlying genetic factors remain largely unknown.

Objective: We aimed to identify genetic variants that modify the variation in serum lipid response to dietary fat quality.

Prevalence and determinants of fatty liver in normal-weight and overweight young adults. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background And Aims: Fatty liver may have different determinants in normal-weight and in obese individuals. We measured factors associated with fatty liver in 863 normal-weight (BMI < 25) and 1135 overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25) young and middle-aged adults (45% male, age 34-49 years) in the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Methods And Results: The prevalence of fatty liver detected with ultrasound was 29% in overweight/obese and 5% in normal-weight participants.

Cardiovascular risk factors in 2011 and secular trends since 2007: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Aims: Cardiovascular risk factor levels in 2011 and 4-year changes between 2007 and 2011 were examined using data collected in follow-ups of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Methods: The study population comprised 2063 Finnish adults aged 34-49 years (45% male). Lipid and blood pressure levels, glucose and anthropometry were measured and life style risk factors examined with questionnaires.

Exploring causality between TV viewing and weight change in young and middle-aged adults. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.

Background: Television viewing time (TV time) is associated with increased weight and obesity, but it is unclear whether this relation is causal.

Methods And Results: We evaluated changes in TV time, waist circumference (waist) and body mass index (BMI) in participants of the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (761 women, 626 men aged 33-50 years in 2011). Waist and BMI were measured, and TV time was self-reported in 2001, 2007, and 2011.

Childhood lifestyle and clinical determinants of adult ideal cardiovascular health: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study, the Princeton Follow-Up Study.

Background: The American Heart Association recently defined ideal cardiovascular health by simultaneous presence of seven health behaviors and factors. The concept is associated with cardiovascular disease incidence, and cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. To effectively promote ideal cardiovascular health already early in life, childhood factors predicting future ideal cardiovascular health should be investigated.

Ideal cardiovascular health in young adult populations from the United States, Finland, and Australia and its association with cIMT: the International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort Consortium.

Background: Goals for cardiovascular (CV) disease prevention were set by the American Heart Association in 2010 for the concept of CV health. Ideal CV health is defined by 7 CV health metrics: blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, body mass index, and physical activity on recommended levels; nonsmoking; and a healthy diet. We studied the prevalence of ideal CV health and its associations with ultrasonographically measured carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) cross-sectionally in 5 international populations.

Tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases 4 (TIMP4) in a population of young adults: relations to cardiovascular risk markers and carotid artery intima-media thickness. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objectives: The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 4 (TIMP4) is present in significant amounts in human atherosclerotic coronary artery lesions, but its relations with the early pathogenesis of atherosclerotic changes have not been clarified. We studied the associations of circulating TIMP4 with pre-clinical markers of atherosclerosis and traditional cardiovascular risk factors by using longitudinal data on carotid artery intima-media (cIMT) thickness in a population-based cohort of asymptomatic young adult Finns.

Methods: Data on cIMT, plasma TIMP4, lipids, CRP, blood pressure, BMI, smoking status and daily alcohol intake were obtained from 980 24-39 year-old participants in 2001.

Plasminogen activator inhitor-1 associates with cardiovascular risk factors in healthy young adults in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Aims: Hypofibrinolysis displayed by elevated serum plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) level has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors such as obesity and insulin resistance. However, no studies have examined associations between PAI-1 and CVD risk factors in healthy subjects. We examined associations between serum PAI-1, ultrasound markers of atherosclerosis and CVD risk factors and whether PAI-1 improves prediction of atherosclerosis over known risk factors in a cohort of asymptomatic adults.

Associations between serum uric acid and markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults. The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns study.

Background And Methods: Serum uric acid (SUA) is a suggested biomarker for established coronary artery disease, but the role of SUA in early phases of atherosclerosis is controversial. The relations of SUA with vascular markers of subclinical atherosclerosis, including carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid plaque, carotid distensibility (Cdist) and brachial flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) were examined in 1985 young adults aged 30-45 years. In addition to ordinary regression, we used Mendelian randomization techniques to infer causal associations.

Childhood physical, environmental, and genetic predictors of adult hypertension: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study.

Background: Hypertension is a major modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. The present longitudinal study aimed to examine the best combination of childhood physical and environmental factors to predict adult hypertension and furthermore whether newly identified genetic variants for blood pressure increase the prediction of adult hypertension.

Methods And Results: The study cohort included 2625 individuals from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study who were followed up for 21 to 27 years since baseline (1980; age, 3-18 years).

Ideal cardiovascular health in childhood and cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: The American Heart Association (AHA) defined a new concept, cardiovascular health, and determined metrics needed to monitor it over time as part of its 2020 Impact Goal definition. Ideal cardiovascular health is defined by the presence of both ideal health behaviors and ideal health factors. The applicability of this concept to a cohort of children and its relationship with cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood has not been reported.

Genetic variants and blood pressure in a population-based cohort: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.

Clinical relevance of a genetic predisposition to elevated blood pressure was quantified during the transition from childhood to adulthood in a population-based Finnish cohort (N=2357). Blood pressure was measured at baseline in 1980 (age 3-18 years) and in follow-ups in 1983, 1986, 2001, and 2007. Thirteen single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with blood pressure were genotyped, and 3 genetic risk scores associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures and their combination were derived for all of the participants.

Plasma osteopontin is not associated with vascular markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in a population of young adults without symptoms of cardiovascular disease. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Osteopontin is used as a biomarker for measuring the severity of atherosclerosis, but the role of osteopontin in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is not clear.

Methods: The distribution and determinants of osteopontin were studied in a randomized cohort of 1,817 young adults (aged 30–45 years) without clinical symptoms of atherosclerosis.

Results: The mean ± SD osteopontin concentration was 60.

A longitudinal analysis on associations of adiponectin levels with metabolic syndrome and carotid artery intima-media thickness. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Adipose-tissue derived adiponectin has gained a lot of interest as a marker of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to assess whether adiponectin levels in young adults predict the incidence of MetS after 6-year follow-up. To gain insight on the interrelations between MetS, adiponectin and cardiovascular risk, we also examined the associations of adiponectin and carotid atherosclerosis according to MetS status.

Temporal relationship between environmental influenza A and Epstein-Barr viral infections and high multiple sclerosis relapse occurrence.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses have been associated with viral and bacterial infection epidemics in MS patients who have not used interferon.

Objectives: We studied whether environmental viral infections in the general population can be associated with increased MS relapse occurrence using retrospective data from 1986 to 1995 when interferons were not yet available.

Methods: Logistic regression modelling was used to compare retrospectively the monthly relapse occurrence from 407 MS patients in Turku University hospital archives and data on ten different specifically diagnosed viral infection epidemics in the general population of Southwestern Finland from 1986 to 1995.

Beta-interferon protects multiple sclerosis patients against enhanced susceptibility to infections caused by poor air quality.

Background: The monthly multiple sclerosis relapse rate was studied from January 1995 to March 2001 from hospital records in Southwestern Finland as a retrospective open-label study.

Methods: The relapse rates of beta-interferon users and nonusers were compared to ambient air inhalable particle levels and viral infections in the population with logistic regression.

Results: In the non-user group, relapses were more frequent 1 month following the episodes when PM(10) was in the highest quartile [logistic regression odds ratio = 1.