Abstract
Objectives
Cardiovascular disease is increasing in many low and middle-income countries, including those in Africa. To inform strategies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in South Africa, we sought to determine the broad heritability of phenotypic markers of cardiovascular risk across three generations.
Design
A cross-sectional study conducted in a longitudinal family cohort.
Setting
Research unit within a tertiary hospital in a historically disadvantaged, large urban township of South Africa.
Participants
195 individuals from 65 biological families with all three generations including third-generation children aged 4–10 years were recruited from the longest running intergenerational cohort study in Africa, the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort. All adults (grandparents and parents) were female while children were male or female.
Primary and secondary outcome measures
The primary outcome was heritability of blood pressure (BP; brachial and central pressures). Secondary outcomes were heritability of arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity), carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and left ventricular mass indexed to body surface area (LVMI).
Results
While no significant intergenerational relationships of BP or arterial stiffness were found, there were significant relationships in LVMI across all three generations (p
Conclusions
Structural indicators of vascular health, which are strong markers of future clinical cardiovascular outcomes, transmit between generations within African families. Identification of these markers in parents may be useful to trigger assessments of preventable risk factors for cardiovascular disease in offspring.
Cardiovascular disease is increasing in many low and middle-income countries, including those in Africa. To inform strategies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in South Africa, we sought to determine the broad heritability of phenotypic markers of cardiovascular risk across three generations.
Design
A cross-sectional study conducted in a longitudinal family cohort.
Setting
Research unit within a tertiary hospital in a historically disadvantaged, large urban township of South Africa.
Participants
195 individuals from 65 biological families with all three generations including third-generation children aged 4–10 years were recruited from the longest running intergenerational cohort study in Africa, the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort. All adults (grandparents and parents) were female while children were male or female.
Primary and secondary outcome measures
The primary outcome was heritability of blood pressure (BP; brachial and central pressures). Secondary outcomes were heritability of arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity), carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and left ventricular mass indexed to body surface area (LVMI).
Results
While no significant intergenerational relationships of BP or arterial stiffness were found, there were significant relationships in LVMI across all three generations (p
Conclusions
Structural indicators of vascular health, which are strong markers of future clinical cardiovascular outcomes, transmit between generations within African families. Identification of these markers in parents may be useful to trigger assessments of preventable risk factors for cardiovascular disease in offspring.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e059910 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | BMJ open |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 23 Sept 2022 |
Keywords
- CLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY
- Cardiovascular imaging
- Hypertension
- PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
- PUBLIC HEALTH
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)