Coronary heart disease risk factors, coronary artery calcification and epicardial fat volume in the Young Finns Study.

Aims: We investigated associations of pre-clinical coronary heart disease (CHD), adolescence and adulthood CHD risk factors, and epicardial fat volume (EFV), which is thought to influence CHD pathology.

Methods And Results: EFV and coronary calcium scores were quantified using computed tomography imaging for 557 subjects from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in 2007. CHD risk marker levels were assessed repeatedly from 1980 to 2007.

Exposure to parental smoking in childhood is associated with increased risk of carotid atherosclerotic plaque in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: The association between passive smoking exposure in childhood and adverse cardiovascular health in adulthood is not well understood. Using a 26-year follow-up study, we examined whether childhood exposure to passive smoking was associated with carotid atherosclerotic plaque in young adults.

Methods And Results: Participants were from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (n=2448).

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.

Early childhood hospitalisation with infection and subclinical atherosclerosis in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Most infections occur in pre-school children but the severity of the inflammatory response to common pathogens varies considerably. We examined the relationship between early childhood infections of sufficient severity to warrant hospitalisation, and markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in adulthood.

Methods: We investigated whether infection-related hospitalisation (IRH) in early childhood (0-5 years) was associated with adverse non-invasive phenotypes of atherosclerosis (carotid artery distensibility and intima-media thickness (IMT), and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD)) in adulthood in participants from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.

The association of dietary alpha-linolenic acid with blood pressure and subclinical atherosclerosis in people born small for gestational age: the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project study.

Objective: To determine whether dietary alpha-linolenic (omega-3) fatty acid intake is associated with lower blood pressure and aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) in people born small for gestational age (SGA).

Study Design: Participants were recruited at age 6 months and followed up every 6-12 months until age 19 years. Blood pressure and food records were assessed at each visit.

Adolescence physical activity is associated with higher tibial pQCT bone values in adulthood after 28-years of follow-up--the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

High peak bone mass and strong bone phenotype are known to be partly explained by physical activity during growth but there are few prospective studies on this topic. In this 28-year follow-up of Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study cohort, we assessed whether habitual childhood and adolescence physical activity or inactivity at the age of 3-18 years were associated with adult phenotype of weight-bearing tibia and the risk of low-energy fractures. Baseline physical activity and data on clinical, nutritional and lifestyle factors were assessed separately for females and males aged 3-6-years (N=395-421) and 9-18-years (N=923-965).

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.

Childhood 25-OH vitamin D levels and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study.

Context: Low vitamin D levels in adulthood have been associated with cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To investigate if low vitamin D levels in childhood are related with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in adulthood.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The analyses included 2148 subjects from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, aged 3-18 years at baseline (in 1980).

High lipoprotein(a) concentrations are associated with impaired endothelial function in children.

Objective: To examine the association between familial high lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), concentrations and endothelial function in children participating in the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project study.

Study Design: Seven-month-old children (n = 1062) with their families were randomized to a risk intervention group or to a control group. The intervention group received individualized dietary counseling to reduce the total cholesterol concentration.

Metabolic syndrome from adolescence to early adulthood: effect of infancy-onset dietary counseling of low saturated fat: the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project (STRIP).

Background: Adolescent metabolic syndrome (MetS) predicts type 2 diabetes mellitus and subclinical atherosclerosis in adulthood. Our aim was to establish the relationship between an infancy-onset dietary intervention and risk of having MetS between 15 and 20 years of age.

Methods And Results: The Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project for Children (STRIP) study is a longitudinal, randomized atherosclerosis prevention trial in which repeated dietary counseling aiming at reducing intake of saturated fat took place from infancy to early adulthood.

Factors associated with six-year weight change in young and middle-aged adults in the Young Finns Study.

Objective: To examine factors associated with weight change and obesity risk in young and middle-aged adults.

Subjects/methods: The Young Finns Study with its 923 women and 792 men aged 24-39 years at baseline were followed for six years. Variables associated with the weight change were investigated with regression models.

Cumulative effect of psychosocial factors in youth on ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: The American Heart Association has defined a new metric of ideal cardiovascular health as part of its 2020 Impact Goals. We examined whether psychosocial factors in youth predict ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood.

Methods And Results: Participants were 477 men and 612 women from the nationwide Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Insulin and BMI as predictors of adult type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background And Objectives: Fasting insulin concentrations are increasingly being used as a surrogate for insulin resistance and risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM), although associations with adult outcomes are unclear. Our objective was to determine whether fasting insulin concentrations in childhood associate with later T2DM.

Methods: Fasting insulin values were available from 2478 participants in the longitudinal Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study at baseline age 3 to 18 years, along with data on adult T2DM (N = 84, mean age = 39.

Habitual sleep duration is associated with BMI and macronutrient intake and may be modified by CLOCK genetic variants.

Background: Short sleep duration has been associated with greater risks of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Also, common genetic variants in the human Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput (CLOCK) show associations with ghrelin and total energy intake.

Objectives: We examined associations between habitual sleep duration, body mass index (BMI), and macronutrient intake and assessed whether CLOCK variants modify these associations.

Metabolic signatures of adiposity in young adults: Mendelian randomization analysis and effects of weight change.

Background: Increased adiposity is linked with higher risk for cardiometabolic diseases. We aimed to determine to what extent elevated body mass index (BMI) within the normal weight range has causal effects on the detailed systemic metabolite profile in early adulthood.

Methods And Findings: We used Mendelian randomization to estimate causal effects of BMI on 82 metabolic measures in 12,664 adolescents and young adults from four population-based cohorts in Finland (mean age 26 y, range 16-39 y; 51% women; mean ± standard deviation BMI 24 ± 4 kg/m(2)).

Novel loci associated with usual sleep duration: the CHARGE Consortium Genome-Wide Association Study.

Usual sleep duration is a heritable trait correlated with psychiatric morbidity, cardiometabolic disease and mortality, although little is known about the genetic variants influencing this trait. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of usual sleep duration was conducted using 18 population-based cohorts totaling 47 180 individuals of European ancestry. Genome-wide significant association was identified at two loci.

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.

Distensibility of the aorta and carotid artery and left ventricular mass from childhood to early adulthood.

Unlabelled: In adults, arterial distensibility decreases with age and relates to changes in cardiac left ventricular mass. Longitudinal data on changes in arterial distensibility from childhood to adulthood are lacking. Our aim was to study the effect of age and sex, and low-saturated fat dietary counseling on arterial distensibility from childhood to early adulthood.

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.

Genetic variation in the hTAS2R38 taste receptor and food consumption among Finnish adults.

Genetic variation in bitter taste receptors, such as hTAS2R38, may affect food preferences and intake. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between bitter taste receptor haplotypes and the consumption of vegetables, fruits, berries and sweet foods among an adult Finnish population. A cross-sectional design utilizing data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns cohort from 2007, which consisted of 1,903 men and women who were 30-45 years of age from five different regions in Finland, was employed.

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies six novel loci associated with habitual coffee consumption.

Coffee, a major dietary source of caffeine, is among the most widely consumed beverages in the world and has received considerable attention regarding health risks and benefits. We conducted a genome-wide (GW) meta-analysis of predominately regular-type coffee consumption (cups per day) among up to 91,462 coffee consumers of European ancestry with top single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed-up in ~30 062 and 7964 coffee consumers of European and African-American ancestry, respectively. Studies from both stages were combined in a trans-ethnic meta-analysis.

Association of thyrotropin with arterial pulse wave velocity in young adults: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Limited data are available regarding the relationship of thyrotropin (TSH) and arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV) at population level. Therefore, we conducted the present study to determine whether TSH is related to PWV assessed in young adulthood.

Methods: The study population consisted of 1598 Finnish white young adults (aged 30-45 years, 47.

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.

Preconception metabolic indicators predict gestational diabetes and offspring birthweight.

Pregnancy conditions such as gestational diabetes (GDM) and macrosomia lead to an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the offspring, perpetuating a cycle of poor health. We hypothesized that (1) pre-pregnancy indicators of metabolism would be associated with GDM and birthweight; and (2) the lipid accumulation product (LAP; incorporating waist circumference and triglycerides) and visceral adiposity index (VAI; incorporating waist circumference, triglycerides, and HDL-c) would be better predictors of GDM and birthweight than other indicators. Data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study were linked to the Finnish birth registry for 349 women.