Right Analysis-wrong conclusion: Obese youth with higher BP are at risk for target organ damage

Family Based Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Children by Lifestyle Change: The PEP Family Heart Study

AIM

The 14 years' Prevention Education Program PEP was started 1994 among first graders, their siblings and parents living in the half million city Nuremberg (Germany). The aim of prospective family-based observational study was early detection and lifestyle intervention of traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Out of 3370 families 24,927 adults and 23,740 children participated in the PEP Family Heart study. Anthropometric parameters including blood pressure and fasting lipids were measured. Because these variables change specifically because of natural growth and development in 3-18 years old children we had to calculate age-and gender-specific growth curves using the LMS method. Non-overweight (normal weight) is defined as BMI < 85th percentile (pctl), overweight as BMI 85th to <95th percentile, obesity as BMI ≥ 95th percentile and severe obesity as ≥ 120% of the 95th pctl. Prehypertension is categorized as the ≥90th to <95th pctl or ≥120/80 mm Hg and hypertension as ≥95th pctl on ≥3 occasions.

MAIN RESULTS

1. Cardiovascular risk (CVD) factor screening in school children predicted CVD risk in parents. 2. The growths curves for auscultatory systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure of non-overweight 8713 boys and 8138 girls nearly identical with the percentile curves of all 11,328 boys and 10,723 girls. 3. The shapes of the 10 lipid percentile curves between the 3rd and 97th pctl differ considerably by age and gender. 4. The wais-to-height ratio (WHtR) percentiles as a measure for abdominal adiposity vary substantially by age and gender 5. Among overweight and obese ≥85th pctl the percentile curves of body fat increase steeply until age 10 years and then decrease slowly in boys whereas the BF% percentile curves in girls increase continuously until age 18 years 6. The prevalence of hypertension increased strongly in severe obesity at the 99th pctl, more steeply beyond 120% of the 95th pctl to 59.1% in boys and 56% in girls. 7. The association between hypertension and normal weight, overweight and obesity increased in boys from 0,5, via 2,7 to 4,3 and in girls from 0,4 via 2,1 to 5,9. 8. Between 2000 and 2007 mean blood pressure decreased from 138.3 ± 18.5 mm Hg to 124.0 ± 13.8 mm Hg in fathers and from 119.1 ± 2.8 mm Hg to 110.4 ± 11.2 mm Hg in mothers. 9. After 1 year weighed dietary protocols demonstrate in 166 fathers a decrease of all six nutrional components like daily energy consumption from 2423 to 2307 Kcal, from 98 g to 91 g fat, from 260 g to 252 g carbohydrates, from 88 g to 84 g protein, cholesterol from 362 mg to 339 mg and alcohol from 19 g to 17 g per day and in 237 mothers from 1915 Kcal to 1830 Kcal, from 79 g to 73 g total fat, from 216 g to 212 g carbohydrates, from 66 g to 64 g protein, from 299 g to 244 mg cholesterol. 10. Sustained intensive individual and family-based lifestyle counseling in daily life in terms of healthy diet, less sedentary behavior and more leisure time physical activity slightly improved the CVD risk factor profiles in parents and their children already after 1 year.

What do we Learn from the Prevention Education Program Family Heart Study about Lifestyle change, Blood Pressure, and Lipids in Children and Parents?

Objectives

The PEP Family Heart Study is a perspective community-based long-term project for the whole family to improve cardiovascular health aiming to assess and to amend risk factors in children and their parents by lifestyle change.

Methods

A total of 48,667 subjects (24,927 adults and 23,740 children) from 3,370 families living in 94% of the elementary school districts of Nuremberg (Germany) participated in this observational study from 1993/1994 -2007/2008. The yearly surveys consisting of personal and family histories, structured interviews on leisure time physical activity and tobacco smoke exposition, physical examinations and nutritional intake as documented by seven days weighed dietary protocols and sustained healthy lifestyle counselling were mainly performed at home. Fasting blood collections for biochemical analyses in the study laboratories, cooking courses and seminars on healthy lifestyle were performed on weekends in central school buildings.

Results

Here we report some of the main results demonstrating e.g., that at least one CVD risk factor in a child conferred a 2-4 fold higher risk among their parents, that obese children and adolescents had a nearly five times higher prevalence of hypertension than non-overweight youths.

Conclusions

Sustained healthy lifestyle behavior can be implemented in daily life of family members which results in amended nutritional intake and improved cardiometabolic risk factors.

Screening, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in obese children: an international policy comparison

Hypertension in obese children may require a different diagnostic and treatment approach from that for children with secondary hypertension, yet there is neither consensus nor a clear guideline. The aim of this study was to assess how obese children with hypertension are currently diagnosed and treated by paediatric nephrologists, what obstacles exist and what can be improved. In the period May–November 2014, an online questionnaire was sent to all members of the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology (n = 2148). Questions focused on current practices and obstacles regarding screening, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in obese children. A total of 214 paediatric nephrologists responded. Although nearly 100 % agreed that screening of obese children for hypertension is indicated, it was current practice in only 56 % of participating countries; 88 % of respondents diagnosed hypertension with 24-h ambulatory blood pressure measurement. Diagnostics used to rule out causes or consequences of hypertension varied among the respondents; they included, in particular, the use of serum renin/aldosterone, urine sodium/potassium, and dimercaptosuccinic acid scan. Concerning treatment, 45 % of respondents preferred to start treatment with a lifestyle program, 2 % with antihypertensive medication, and 40 % with both. For 73 % of respondents, angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers were the drugs of first choice. The findings of this study emphasize the urgent need for an international guideline for screening, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in obese children.