The mother’s lifestyle predicts when offspring will have their first heart attack or stroke

The offspring of a mother with a healthy heart lifestyle live nearly 10 years longer without cardiovascular disease than a mother with an unhealthy lifestyle. It is the result of a study published today. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

“Our research is Mother’s Dr. James Muchila, a research author at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and the University of Massachusetts in Boston, said, “It’s a major gatekeeper to children’s health. This mother’s influence continues into her childhood. descendants.. “

Previous studies have shown that parents convey health to their offspring through both genes and a shared environment / lifestyle.This was the first study to determine whether the heart health of parents was associated with the age at which offspring developed. Cardiovascular disease.. In addition, we investigated the impact of each parent individually.

This study was conducted in a trio of offspring-mother-father of the Framingham Heart Study. In total, there are 1,989 offspring, 1,989 mothers, and 1,989 fathers. Offspring were enrolled with an average age of 32 years and were followed for more than 46 years (1971-2017) for the development of cardiovascular events. “Importantly, this study tracks offspring, Adult life When a heart attack or stroke actually happens, “Dr. Muchira explained.

Mother and father cardiovascular health was assessed according to their achievement of seven factors: quitting, healthy eating, physical activity, normal obesity index, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose. The three categories of cardiovascular health were poor (0 to 2 factors achieved), moderate (3 to 4), and ideal (5 to 7).

Researchers evaluated the association between parental cardiovascular health and how long their offspring lived without cardiovascular disease. The links between each pair, namely mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son were evaluated.

The offspring of a mother with ideal cardiovascular health lived nine years longer without cardiovascular disease than the offspring of a mother with poor cardiovascular health (27 vs. 18 years, respectively). Poor maternal cardiovascular health was associated with twice the risk of early-onset cardiovascular disease compared to ideal maternal cardiovascular health.Father’s Heart health There was no statistically significant effect on the length of time the offspring lived without cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Muchira said the mother’s strong contribution is likely to be a combination of her health during pregnancy and her childhood environment.He said: “If the mother has diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, they Risk factor Imprinted on their children at a very early age. In addition, women are often the primary caregiver and the primary role model of behavior. “

The son was more affected than the daughter by the unhealthy lifestyle of the mother. “My son has a worse lifestyle than my daughter, and things are getting worse. It shows that individuals can manage their own health. Those who inherit a high risk from their mother should reduce that risk,” said Dr. Muchira. You can do it. Exercise well and eat. Otherwise, your risk will be doubled. “

The authors state that optimizing cardiovascular health between reproductive-age women and mothers with young children can break the preventable cardiovascular intergenerational cycle. disease..

“Family-based interventions should take place during pregnancy and very early in the child’s life, resulting in the actual effects of protective cardiovascular disease. health “For example, we track mothers and toddlers by pairing them with exercise and diet improvement programs,” said Dr. Muchira. “When a child grows into a healthy adult, they get the same cardiovascular risk as their parents. There is nothing to do, and you are in a situation that increases your chances of having a healthier grandchild. ”