Objectives: To assess the effect of parental histories of cardiovascular risk factors on risk factor clusters (RFC) in representative samples from three French populations (MONICA centers of Lille, Strasbourg, Toulouse).
Material and methods: In a representative cross-sectional study, we screened 1,291 males and 1,264 females, aged 35-64 years. Subjects were defined as RFC cases when they were affected by at least 2 disorders among, hypertension (systolic or diastolic blood pressure >=140/90 mmHg and/or antihypertensive drug), diabetes (physician-diagnosed diabetes and/or glycemia >=7.0 mmol/l and/or hypoglycemic drug), and dyslipidemia (triglycerides > 2.26 mmol/l and/or HDL-cholesterol<0.9 mmol/l in men and<1.2 mmol/l in women). Nineteen percent of the subjects were RFC cases. Parental histories of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia) were positive if they were under 65. About 29% of the subjects had at least one parental history of risk factor.
Results: After adjustment for sex, age, educational level, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption, body mass index, LDL cholesterol and center, parental histories of cardiovascular risk factors were significantly associated with the RFC. One, two, or at least three parental histories were significantly associated with increased odds of being RFC cases (adjusted OR 1.39 95% CI [1.05-1.82], 2.90 95% CI [1.91-4.40], 2.93 95% CI [1.41-6.08]). Furthermore, a maternal-only history vs a paternal-only history of hypertension or diabetes was associated with strong odds of being an RFC case.
Conclusion: At least a single cardiovascular risk factor in parents was significantly associated with RFC in offspring, independently of environmental parameters.