Cardiovascular Risk Factors from Early Life Predict Future Adult Cardiac Structural and Functional Abnormalities: A Systematic Review of the Published Literature

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice evaluates cardiovascular risk based on current risk factor (RF) levels [Blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI) and glycaemic control] largely disregarding previous risk-factor history over the totality of the life course. RFs are related to contemporaneous echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function which in turn are independently related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in cross-sectional studies. However, the effect of lifetime or earlier RF history on future echocardiographic changes has never been systematically examined. METHODS: A systematic review of the published literature identified 24 studies relating either earlier BP, BMI, glycaemic control or a combination to future cardiac structure and/or function. RESULTS: The majority of studies showed that elevated BP and BMI in earlier life and greater cumulative burden of these factors resulted in worse cardiac structure up to 24 years later. Studies examining glycaemic control as RF were few, but poorer glycaemic control in young adults was associated with increased future left ventricular mass. While only 5 papers related RFs to future cardiac function, all RFs were positively associated with worse future diastolic function. CONCLUSIONS: BP, BMI and glycaemic control measures in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood and subsequent longitudinal trajectories of BP and BMI are predictive of future abnormalities in cardiac structure and function. Lifetime RF history should be used to inform clinical practice. Further research is required to enable the identification of any sensitive periods in the life course to enable prevention when it is most likely to be effective.