Childhood Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Metabolic Health

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has its origins early in life, with risk factors arising during childhood that shape metabolic health across the life course. Obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance represent key modifiable drivers of early vascular damage. Excess adiposity in juvenile years promotes a pro-inflammatory state and lipid disturbances that track into adulthood, raising the probability of atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and overt CVD. Blood-pressure elevations may first emerge in infancy or preschool, contributing cumulatively to arterial wall changes measurable by carotid intima-media thickness. Genetic and epigenetic influences interact with perinatal exposures, diet quality, sedentary behaviour and socio-economic context to determine individual trajectories. Recognition of these risk factors at a reversible stage, together with interventions targeting weight management, dietary balance and physical fitness, underpins strategies to curb lifetime cardiovascular burden. Screening approaches that integrate anthropometry, blood lipids, glucose–insulin metrics and blood pressure from early childhood onwards enable timely intervention and have global relevance, particularly in populations undergoing rapid nutritional transition.

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Childhood Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Metabolic Health publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in childhood cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT): A non-invasive ultrasound measure of arterial wall thickness used as an early indicator of atherosclerosis.

Dyslipidemia: Abnormal concentration of blood lipids, including elevated total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein or triglycerides, and/or reduced high-density lipoprotein.

Metabolic syndrome: A cluster of conditions—central adiposity, elevated blood pressure, dyslipidemia and impaired glucose tolerance—that increases cardiovascular disease risk.

Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR): A state in which cells fail to respond effectively to insulin, calculated from fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, and linked to type 2 diabetes risk.

Body mass index (BMI): The ratio of weight (kg) to height (m) squared, widely used to classify underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity in children and adults.

References

1. Blood Pressure at Different Life Stages Over the Early Life Course and Intima-Media Thickness. JAMA Pediatrics (2024).
2. Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: From Childhood to Adulthood. Nutrients (2021).
3. Higher glucose, insulin and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in childhood predict adverse cardiovascular risk in early adulthood: the Pune Children’s Study. Diabetologia (2015).