Cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death and disease burden in China and worldwide. We aimed to evaluate the status of cardiovascular health among urban Chinese children and adolescents. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study comprising 12,618 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, who were recruited from Chinese urban areas during 2013-2015. The poor, intermediate, and ideal levels of 7 cardiovascular health metrics, including smoking, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol were defined according to revised American Heart Association criteria. RESULTS: Ideal smoking status was the most prevalent health component (overall, 90.7%; males, 86.3% and females, 95.4%), whereas ideal health diet score (overall, 8.7%; males, 9.1% and females, 8.3%) was the least prevalent among urban Chinese children and adolescents. The majority (overall, 84.9%; males, 82.6% and females, 87.4%) of participants had 3-5 ideal metrics. The overall prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health (i.e. meeting all 7 ideal components) was extremely low (overall, 0.5%; males, 0.5% and females, 0.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents is extremely low, particularly for physical activity and healthy dietary intake. Effective public health interventions are required to improve cardiovascular health in children and adolescents to reduce future cardiovascular risk. Key messages Ideal health diet score was the least prevalent health component among urban Chinese children and adolescents The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents was extremely low Effective public health interventions are required to improve cardiovascular health in children and adolescents to reduce future cardiovascular risk.

Black-White Difference in the Impact of Long-Term Blood Pressure From Childhood on Adult Renal Function: The Bogalusa Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: To examine racial difference in the impact of long-term burden of blood pressure (BP) from childhood on adult renal function between middle-aged blacks and whites. METHODS: The study cohort consisted of 1,646 whites and 866 blacks aged 20-51 years at follow-up who had BP measured at least 4 times since childhood, with a mean follow-up period of 25.3 years. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated as a measure of long-term burden of BP from childhood to adulthood. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated based on serum creatinine to assess renal function in adulthood. RESULTS: Black vs. white adults had significantly higher values of eGFR and long-term burden of systolic BP for both males and females. In multivariable linear regression analyses, adjusting for sex, adult age, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol use, adult eGFR was significantly and negatively associated with adult systolic BP (standardized regression coefficient [ß] = -0.10, P = 0.005) and diastolic BP (ß = -0.11, P = 0.003) in blacks, but not in whites. The total BP AUC values were also significantly and negatively associated with adult eGFR (ß = -0.10, P = 0.005 for systolic BP and ß = -0.09, P = 0.013 for diastolic BP) in blacks only. Childhood BP was not significantly associated with adult eGFR in blacks and whites. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that black-white disparities in the influence of elevated BP on the development of renal dysfunction occur in middle adulthood, which underscores the importance of BP control in the black population.