Risk of cardiovascular disease measured by carotid intima-media thickness at age 49-51: lifecourse study

Abstract

Objective To quantify the direct and indirect effects of fetal life, childhood, and adult life on risk of cardiovascular disease at age 49-51 years. Design Follow up study of the "Newcastle thousand families" birth cohort established in 1947. Participants 154 men and 193 women who completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire and attended for clinical examination between October 1996 and December 1998. Main outcome measures Correlations between mean intima-media thickness of the carotid artery (carotid intima-media thickness) and family history, birth weight, and socioeconomic position around birth; socioeconomic position, growth, illness, and adverse life events in childhood; and adult socioeconomic position, lifestyle, and biological risk markers. Proportions of variance in carotid intima-media thickness that were accounted for by each stage of the lifecourse. Results Socioeconomic position at birth and birth weight were negatively associated with carotid intima-media thickness, although only social class at birth in women was a statistically significant covariate independent of adult lifestyle. These early life variables accounted directly for 2.2% of total variance in men and 2.0% in women. More variation in carotid intima-media thickness was explained by adult socioeconomic position and lifestyle, which accounted directly and indirectly for 3.4% of variance in men (95% confidence interval 0.5% to 6.2%) and 7.6% in women (2.1% to 13.0%). Biological risk markers measured in adulthood independently accounted for a further 9.5% of variance in men (2.4% to 14.2%) and 4.9% in women (1.6% to 7.4%). Conclusions Adult lifestyle and biological risk markers were the most important determinants of the cardiovascular health of the study members of the Newcastle thousand families cohort at age 49-51 years. The limited overall effect of early life factors may reflect the postwar birth year of this cohort.

Nutrition in advanced age: dietary assessment in the Newcastle 85+ study

“…If, however, as in the Newcastle 85 þ study, the aim is to assess total diet (foods, energy and a wide range of nutrients), the number of foods included in the FFQ has to be extensive. The European Prospective Investigative Study of Cancer (EPIC) FFQ was chosen as an extensively validated and widely utilized FFQ designed to assess dietary intake (Lamont et al, 2000;Titan et al, 2001;Cade et al, 2007;Linseisen et al, 2007). In doing so, it was recognized that although the EPIC FFQ had been validated in a UK-adult population, this had not included adults aged 85 years and above.…”

Income change at retirement, neighbourhood-based social support, and ischaemic heart disease: Results from the prospective cohort study “Men born in 1914”

“…Various studies have investigated the effects of individual socioeconomic trajectories over time on cardiovascular diseases (Davey Smith, Ben-Shlomo, & Lynch, 2002;Lamont, Parker, White, Unwin, Bennett, Cohen et al, 2000). However, to our knowledge only few studies have focused on the socioeconomic transition from active life to retirement (Wolfson, Rowe, Gentleman, & Tomiak, 1993).…”

Lifecourse predictors of normal metabolic parameters in overweight and obese adults

“…This supports previous findings of a lack of an association between, in particular, birth weight and future cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome risk, in the Thousand Families cohort. 11,12 However, experiencing childhood in a post-war environment, including the rationing of food, may have resulted in reduced variability in dietary disadvantage and less severe material disadvantage than cohorts born in the pre-war period. It is also possible that different results may have been obtained had other measures of fetal growth, such as ponderal index, been available to this investigation.…”

“…A previous investigation using data from this cohort suggested that the dietary questionnaire may have resulted in the under-reporting of dietary energy intake. 11 Other studies have conversely noted an over-reporting of energy intake, 22,23 suggesting that results concerning dietary intake should be viewed with caution. Further, it is likely that crosssectional measures of dietary intake would not be the most appropriate when investigating metabolic factors in an overweight or obese population.…”

“…Between October 1996 and December 1998, self-completion questionnaires on adult health and lifestyle were sent out and study members invited to attend for clinical examination. [10][11][12] Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the appropriate Local Research Ethics Committees. All study members participating in this study gave their written consent.…”