BMJ, doi: 10.1136/bmj.38034.702836.55, (Published 8 March 2004)

PAPERS

Clustering of risk factors and social class in childhood and adulthood in British women's heart and health study: cross sectional analysis

Shah Ebrahim ¹, David Montaner ¹, Debbie A Lawlor ¹

¹ Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Bristol BS8 2PR

Objective To examine co-occurrence and clustering of risk factors used in the Framingham equation by social class in childhood and adult life.

Design Cross sectional study.

Setting 23 towns across England, Wales, and Scotland.

Participants 2936 women aged 60-79 years.

Main outcome measures Prevalence of risk factors (hypertension, obesity, smoking, left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiography, diabetes, and low concentration of high density cholesterol); ratios of observed to expected frequencies of clusters of risk factors.

Results Risk factors were more common in women from manual social classes in either childhood or adult life, and the co-occurrence of three or four of these risk factors was greater among more disadvantaged groups. Within the four socioeconomic groups, these risk factors occurred together more than would be expected from their individual frequency distributions, indicating that they were clustered. The extent of this clustering was similar in all four social class groups.

Conclusions Clustering of risk factors included in the Framingham risk function occurs in all social class groups, but the lack of social patterning makes it unlikely that clustering is an explanation of socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular disease. As the proportion of women with co-occurrence of risk factors is greatest in those from manual social class in childhood, this measure of socioeconomic position might prove useful in risk prediction.

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(Accepted 14 January 2004)
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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Perm any 3 from 10; but who's the winner?

GH Hall
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2004 [Full text]

Why are there no Framingham scores, and why the high threshold for hypertension?

Michael J White
bmj.com, 26 Apr 2004 [Full text]