Obesity is a major public health issue, especially in low- and middle-income countries. These countries also suffer from a heavier burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Obesity is associated with higher risk of CVD, possible pathways have been investigated, including chronic low grade inflammation and oxidative stress. A recent study gives evidence that adiposity may cause DNA methylation, a mechanism of altering DNA expression without changing DNA sequence. However, whether DNA methylation mediated the association of adiposity with CVD risk is not clear. This study aims to assess this potential mediated effect, and may therefore use DNA methylation to identify high risk group of CVD. And since DNA methylation has a potential to be reversed, this may also provide insight into CVD prevention among overweight and obese population.
Therefore, this study investigates whether maternal and child body mass index (BMI) is associated with cardio-metabolic risk score in adolescence, and whether this association is mediated by DNA methylation in cord blood and childhood. The cardio-metabolic risk score is derived as the mean of five physical or biological measurements related to cardiovascular disease, i.e. systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, insulin resistant, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol.