Overweight and cardiovascular risk among young adults followed-up for 17 years: the Rio de Janeiro study, Brazil

BACKGROUND: The adoption of primary prevention measures among young people has a favorable impact on the context of cardiovascular diseases. OBJECTIVE: To assess blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular risk variables among young adults stratified according to the body mass index (BMI) behavior obtained along 17 years, since childhood/adolescence (C/A). METHODS: Three assessments were carried out in 115 individuals pertaining to the study cohort of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A1: 12.97 ± 1.48 years old; A2: 21.90 ± 1.71 years old; A3: 30.65 ± 2.00 years olds and divided into three groups according to BMI in the three assessments: Group N (always normal BMI; n=46), Group L (varying BMI; n=49) and Group O/O (always increased BMI; n=20). In A1, A2 and A3, BP and BMI were obtained. In A2 and A3, glucose (G) and lipidic profile were dosed. Also in A2, insulin (INS) was dosed and HOMA-IR was calculated. In A3, the measurement of waist circumference (WC), abdomen/hip relation (AHR) and body fat percentage (%BF) were added. RESULTS: 1) Group O/O presented higher mean values of increased BP (p<0.0001) at the three assessments; 2) In A3, Group O/O showed higher mean values for WC, AHR and %BF and prevalence of increased WC and metabolic syndrome (MS) (p<0.0001); 3) higher mean values were observed for INS, HOMA-IR, LDL-c in A2, and G, cholesterol, LDL-c and triglycerides in A3 for Group O/O (p<0.05); 4) masculine sex and O/O at A1 determined higher risk for MS occurrence in adult age. CONCLUSION: The presence of O/O since C/A was associated with higher BP values, anthropometric indexes and higher prevalence of MS in the young adult phase.