Childhood socioeconomic status and lifetime health behaviors: The Young Finns Study.

BACKGROUND: Differences in health behaviors partly explain the socioeconomic gap in cardiovascular health. We prospectively examined the association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and lifestyle factors in adulthood, and the difference of lifestyle factors according to childhood SES in multiple time points from childhood to adulthood. METHODS AND RESULTS: The sample comprised 3453 participants aged 3-18 years at baseline (1980) from the longitudinal Young Finns Study. The participants were followed up for 31 years (N = 1675-1930). SES in childhood was characterized as reported annual family income and classified on an 8-point scale. Diet, smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity were used as adult and life course lifestyle factors. Higher childhood SES predicted a healthier diet in adulthood in terms of lower consumption of meat (ß ±â€¯SE -3.6 ±â€¯0.99,p < 0.001), higher consumption of fish (1.1 ±â€¯0.5, p = 0.04) and higher diet score (0.14 ±â€¯0.044, p = 0.01). Childhood SES was also directly associated with physical activity index (0.059 ±â€¯0.023, p = 0.009) and inversely with the risk of being a smoker (RR 0.90 95%CI 0.85-0.95, p < 0.001) and the amount of pack years (-0.47 ±â€¯0.18, p = 0.01). Life course level of smoking was significantly higher and physical activity index lower among those below the median childhood SES when compared with those above the median SES. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that childhood SES associates with several lifestyle factors 31 years later in adulthood. Therefore, attention could be paid to lifestyle behaviors of children of low SES families to promote cardiovascular health.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Risk of Fatty Liver: The Young Finns Study.

PURPOSE: Fatty liver is an expanding health concern associated with metabolic disturbances and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Experimental studies in animals have shown associations between fatty liver and cardiorespiratory fitness but limited data exist in humans. The aim of this study was to analyze the links between cardiorespiratory fitness and fatty liver in a population-based sample of adults. METHODS: Participants were 463 adults (48% men) from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured with a cycle ergometer exercise test as peak oxygen uptake (V˙O2peak [mL·kg·min]) in 2008 to 2009. Hepatic ultrasonographic imaging was performed in 2011 to determine fatty liver. RESULTS: Cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with lower risk of fatty liver (1 mL·kg·min increase in V˙O2peak: risk ratio, 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-0.93, P < 0.0001; adjusted for age and sex). This association remained significant after further adjustments with physical activity, adiposity, smoking, alcohol consumption, serum lipids, insulin, glucose, and C-reactive protein. Participants who were obese (waist circumference, >80 cm in women and >94 cm in men) but fit (V˙O2peak in the upper age- and sex-specific median) had lower prevalence of fatty liver than participants who were obese and unfit (below median), (11.7% vs 34.8%, P = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: In a population-based sample of adults, cardiorespiratory fitness is strongly, inversely and independently related with the risk of fatty liver. Importantly, the association is evident also among obese.

Association of physical activity in childhood and early adulthood with carotid artery elasticity 21 years later: the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study.

BACKGROUND: Decreased arterial elasticity is a risk factor for several cardiovascular outcomes. Longitudinal data on the effect of physical activity in youth on adult arterial elasticity are limited. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term effects of physical activity in children and young adults on carotid artery elasticity after 21 years of follow-up. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants were 1417 children (aged 9 to 15 years) and 999 young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) from the prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Participants had questionnaire measures of leisure-time physical activity available from 1986 and ultrasound-derived indices of carotid artery elasticity measured in 2007. Carotid artery elasticity indices were distensibility (%/10 mm Hg), Young's elastic modulus (kPa), and stiffness index (unitless). Physical activity at age 18 to 24 years was directly associated with distensibility (ß=0.068, P=0.014) and inversely with Young's elastic modulus (ß=-0.057, P=0.0037) and indirectly with stiffness index (ß=-0.050, P=0.0028) 21 years later in males and females. The associations remained after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, systolic blood pressure, serum lipids and insulin, and 21-year change in physical activity. At age 9 to 15 years, the favorable association, remaining after adjustment, was found in males (distensibility [ß=0.097, P=0.010], Young's elastic modulus [ß=-0.060, P=0.028], and stiffness index [ß=-0.062, P=0.007]) but not in females (P=0.70, P=0.85, and P=0.91, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Leisure-time physical activity in boys and young adults is associated with carotid artery elasticity later in life, suggesting that higher levels of physical activity in youth may benefit future cardiovascular health.