Cardiovascular Health Promotion in Pediatric Populations
Summary
Cardiovascular disease originates in early life through the gradual development of risk factors such as poor diet, physical inactivity, obesity, dyslipidaemia, elevated blood pressure and tobacco exposure. Promotion of cardiovascular health in children and adolescents aims to prevent the inception of these determinants through primordial and primary prevention strategies. Primordial prevention seeks to halt risk factor emergence by instilling healthy behaviours and environments from infancy through adolescence, while primary prevention targets modifiable risk factors once they have appeared. Interventions span family counselling, school-based curricula, community partnerships and digital tools, each tailored to developmental stages. Standardised metrics—often modelled on the American Heart Association’s ideal cardiovascular health score—guide assessment of diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, body mass index and blood pressure. Globally, multicomponent programmes have demonstrated feasibility in diverse settings, underscoring the need for policy support and integration into education systems. By fostering lifelong healthy habits early, cardiovascular health promotion in paediatric populations holds promise for reducing adult morbidity, healthcare costs and health inequalities.
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Cardiovascular Health Promotion in Pediatric Populations publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in cardiovascular health promotion in pediatric populations across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Primordial prevention: Actions to prevent the development of risk factors before they occur, through promotion of healthy habits and environments.
Ideal cardiovascular health score: A composite measure of behavioural and clinical metrics (diet, activity, smoking, body mass index, blood pressure) indicating optimal heart health.
Atherosclerosis: Progressive thickening and loss of elasticity in arterial walls due to lipid accumulation and inflammation, beginning in youth.
Cluster randomised trial: A study design in which groups (e.g. schools) are randomly assigned to interventions, rather than individuals.
Early vascular ageing: A concept describing accelerated arterial stiffening and endothelial dysfunction in young individuals, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.
References
- School-Based Cardiovascular Health Promotion in Adolescents. JAMA Cardiology (2023).
- Trends in cardiovascular risk factor prevalence, treatment, and control among US adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, 2001 to March 2020. BMC Medicine (2024).
- The Tyrolean early vascular ageing-study (EVA-Tyrol): study protocol for a non-randomized controlled trial. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders (2020).
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