Passing Down Cardiovascular Health: Impact on Children from Parents

[Medical Today=Lee Jae Hyuk Reporter] A recent study has found that if parents exhibit poor cardiovascular health indicators, there is a higher likelihood that their children will also display similar indicators.

Conducted by a research team from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yonsei University (Professors Kim Hyun Chang, Jung Sun Jae, and Lee Ho Kyu, and Master’s student Hwang Man Tang), the study involved the analysis of 1,267 pairs of couples and 1,567 adult children (748 sons and 819 daughters) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Survey from 2014 to 2021.

The analysis showed that after adjusting variables such as household income, the gender and age of the children, and their education and alcohol consumption if one parent displayed abnormal cardiovascular health indicators, their child was found to be 3.52 times more likely to have similar abnormal cardiovascular health indicators.

Upon further stratification based on the child’s gender, the likelihood increased to 3.17 times for sons and 5.07 times for daughters.

More specifically, a father’s abnormal cardiovascular health indicators had a significant positive correlation with his daughter’s abnormal cardiovascular health indicators, and a mother’s abnormal cardiovascular health indicators exhibited a significant positive correlation with her son’s abnormal cardiovascular health indicators.

The research team pointed out that “the strong familial correlation of cardiovascular health indicators suggests the importance of involving the entire family in the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases”.

They further added that “by adopting a family-centered approach, such as family-based counseling and support services to promote lifestyle changes including quitting smoking, regular exercise, and healthy eating habits, the effectiveness of potential cardiovascular disease management can be enhanced”.

Meanwhile, the results of this study have been published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association, an international academic journal issued by the American Heart Association.

By. MedicalToday