Early adolescent obesity may increase cardiovascular risk in early 20s

An analysis in the United Kingdom found that children who were obese from age 11 to 13 had an increased risk of developing heart disease when they were 21 to 23 years old. The results were similar regardless of ethnicity or gender.

Lead researcher Seeromanie Harding, PhD, of King’s College in London, and colleagues published their results online in BMJ Open on Dec. 14.

In this study, known as DASH, the researchers evaluated 6,643 students who were 11 to 13 years old from 2002 to 2003. The students came from 51 secondary schools in 10 London boroughs.

In March 2014, 665 of the students took part in a pilot follow-up study and completed their assessments at community locations such as pharmacies and King’s College. The group included 107 white people, 102 black Caribbeans, 132 black Africans, 99 Indians, 111 Bangladeshi or Pakistani and 115 other ethnicities.

Approximately 30 percent of the participants were overweight or obese at age 11 to 13, while 39 percent were overweight at age 21 to 23. There was a larger increase between 14 to 16 and 21 to 23 years old than between 11 to 13 and 14 to 16 years old.

Black Caribbeans and black Africans were more likely to be overweight or obese compared with the other participants, according to the researchers. They added that every ethnic group and males and females had an increase in waist to height ratio between 14 to 16 years old and 21 to 23 years old.

During those ages, systolic blood pressure increased more in males than females. Systolic blood pressure also increased among black Caribbean and black African males, but it decreased among white people.

For males and females, adiposity at 11 to 13 years old was related to allostatic load, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

Throughout the study, black Caribbean and black African females were more overweight than their white peers, while Indian females and Pakastani/Bangladeshi males had lower systolic blood pressure than their white peers.

At 21 to 23 years old, HbA1c levels were higher among black Caribbean females, while total cholesterol was higher and HDL cholesterol was lower among Pakistanis/Bangladeshis.

The researchers mentioned a few limitations of the study, including that they had no data before age 11 and had blood biomarkers only at 21 to 23 years old. They also noted that there were small sample sizes for ethnic groups.

“A recent stabilisation of obesity rates in children in England is good news but there is no room for complacency,” the researchers wrote. “Early adolescent overweight adversely affected [cardiovascular] health of 20-year-olds and overweight increased between late teens and early 20s, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Physical peak is expected in the 20s, a transitional age that is ignored in interventions. Urgent attention is required to prevent diminishing ‘peak’ health in a ‘coming of age’ generation that faces the additional challenges from economic precarity due to the economic recession.”