Prevalence and risk of cardiovascular risk factors and events in offspring of patients at high vascular risk and effect of location of parental vascular disease

Background: Offspring of patients with cardiovascular disease are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular events. We evaluated whether prevalence of risk factors in offspring of patients with increased cardiovascular risk is higher compared with the general population and whether the risk of cardiovascular events and prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in offspring is dependent on parental vascular disease location.

Methods: Of 4270 patients enrolled in the SMART cohort we assessed after a follow-up of 7 years (IQR 4-8) the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and disease in their 10,572 children by questionnaire. The SMART patients had symptomatic vascular disease (coronary artery disease (CAD) (n = 1826), cerebrovascular disease (CVD) (n = 637), peripheral artery disease (PAD) (n = 275), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) (n = 98), polyvascular disease (≥ 2 vascular manifestations) (n = 371)) or risk factors (hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, hypertension) (n = 1063). The prevalence of risk factors in offspring was compared with the general population and stratified for parental vascular disease location. The relation between parental vascular disease location and cardiovascular events in offspring was determined by Poisson regression.

Results: The offspring had higher prevalence of in particular hypercholesterolemia and hypertension compared with the general population, irrespective of the parental vascular disease location. Higher risks of cardiovascular events compared with offspring of patients without manifest vascular disease were observed in offspring of patients with CAD (PR 1.8, 95%CI 0.9-3.4), CVD (PR 2.4, 95%CI 1.2-4.8), PAD (PR 2.8, 95%CI 1.3-6.4), polyvascular disease (PR 2.5, 95%CI 1.2-5.2), but not with AAA (PR 1.7, 95%CI 0.5-6.1).

Conclusions: In offspring from patients with cardiovascular disease or risk factors, the prevalence of traditional risk factors was higher compared with the general population, independent of the location of vascular disease of the parent. Offspring of patients with PAD had the highest risk of developing vascular disease.