Introduction:
Prior research suggests early life stressors (ELS) influence development of cardiovascular (CV) risk over the lifecourse, but few national studies have evaluated this. We examined the association of ELS with adult CV defined by
Life’s Simple 7 (LS7)
score within a national US population-based cohort.
Methods:
We used data on 7,469 REGARDS participants (black and white adults, aged
>
45 in 2003-2007), with clinical and behavioral risk factor data from questionnaires and direct measurement. Levels of LS7 components (blood pressure, total cholesterol, fasting glucose, physical activity, smoking, diet, body mass index) were coded as poor (0 points), intermediate (1 point) or ideal (2 points); the primary outcome, LS7 score, was the sum of the components. In 2012-2013, 7 ELS (death of parent, parents separated/divorced, family serious illness, witnessed family violence, family substance abuse, parent’s loss of job and parent incarcerated) were retrospectively assessed by mail questionnaire to active participants. Linear regression was used to characterize the relationship between each ELS and LS7 after adjustment for demographics and region of birth. Mediation by adult income and education was examined.
Results:
ELS were common, ranging from 3% for parent incarcerated to 29% for family serious illness. Lower LS7 was associated with each ELS, with significant association with witnessing family violence (-0.15; 95% CI: -0.29 to -0.02) (see figure.) Additional adjustment for adult education partially attenuated the effect estimates for witnessed family violence by 20.6% (95% CI: 2.0%, 39.1%); adjustment for adult income and education mediated the non-significant estimates for parental death, family illness and separation/divorce.
Conclusions:
Exposure to ELS was associated worse adult cardiovascular health; these associations were partially but not fully mediated by adult socioeconomic status. Further work is needed in categorization of ELS and examination of pathways underlying the associations.
Early life thermal stress modulates hepatic expression of thermotolerance related genes and physiological responses in two rabbit breeds