Adult lifestyles count more than childhood factors in determining cardiovascular health

To study the determinants of adult disease Lamont et al investigated the intima-media thickness of the carotid artery at age 49-51 years of several hundred men and women recruited at birth into the Newcastle thousand families study and followed up through infancy and childhood (p 273). In comparison with many previous studies, birth weight and socioeconomic position at birth accounted for smaller proportions of variance in cardiovascular disease risk in middle age than did adult socioeconomic position, lifestyle, and associated biological risk markers. A possible explanation may be that this cohort experienced childhood after the war rather than before it.

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Relevant Article

Risk of cardiovascular disease measured by carotid intima-media thickness at age 49-51: lifecourse study

Douglas Lamont, Louise Parker, Martin White, Nigel Unwin, Stuart M A Bennett, Melanie Cohen, David Richardson, Heather O Dickinson, Ashley Adamson, K G M M Alberti, and Alan W Craft
BMJ 2000 320: 273-278. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]