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What the Long Term Cohort Studies that Began in Childhood Have Taught Us about the Origins of Coronary Heart Disease

  • Pediatrics (S Gidding, Section Editor)
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Abstract

A limited number of observational studies were commenced in the 1970s and 1980s that have aimed to examine the child and adolescent origin of cardiovascular disease. These studies have provided, and continue to provide, critical evidence that have enhanced our understanding of the disease process, the early-life factors involved, and have informed public health and clinical guideline statements. Using data on preclinical markers of vascular health in adulthood, these studies have recently described the important role for youth lifestyle for later vascular health, provided information on the critical age in youth when risk factor associations with adult vascular health emerge, and have reported on the potential vascular benefits of resolving youth at-risk status in the transition from youth to adulthood. It is these works that we cover in detail in this review. Despite all the achievements from these studies, it is tantalizing that their most important contributions are still to come. That is, once sufficient clinical end points accrue so that analyses linking early life health to hard outcomes can be performed. These studies are a commodity and an invaluable resource that, with minimal re-investment, will provide increasing returns on cardiovascular health into the future.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Chief Investigators of the youth-to-adult cohort studies highlighted in this review for their forethought and invaluable contributions to the area.

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Conflict of interest

Costan G. Magnussen, Kylie J. Smith, and Markus Juonala declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS 7001, Hobart, Australia

    Costan G. Magnussen & Kylie J. Smith

  2. Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Costan G. Magnussen & Markus Juonala

  3. Department of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

    Markus Juonala

Authors
  1. Costan G. Magnussen
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  2. Kylie J. Smith
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  3. Markus Juonala
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Correspondence to Costan G. Magnussen.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pediatrics

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Magnussen, C.G., Smith, K.J. & Juonala, M. What the Long Term Cohort Studies that Began in Childhood Have Taught Us about the Origins of Coronary Heart Disease. Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep 8, 373 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-014-0373-x

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