Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK and globally. The mechanisms underlying the increased cardiovascular (CV) risk in the young have not been extensively explored in larger, well characterised child study populations. Blood pressure is the strongest risk factor for CVD. Elevated blood pressure in adolescence tracks to adult blood pressure and predicts subsequent cardiovascular risk. It is clear that early life risk factors are main determinants of blood pressure act in early life, but their nature and exact role is unclear, and relations between blood pressure and structural and functional aspects of the circulation have been inconsistent.
Our main aim is to complete and extend the cardiovascular characterisation of the ALSPAC cohort at age 17 as originally outlined in the Early life determinants of blood pressure patterns in young adults (ELBA; funded by Wellcome Trust) study and Growth Related effects in ALSPAC on Cardiac Endpoints (GRACE; funded by British Heart Foundation - ALSPAC Reference: B0300) grants. We will focus on specific hypotheses around cardiovascular structure and function in relation to other relevant measures at 17. We will also assess the importance of early life exposures (e.g. birthweight, trajectories of growth, adiposity and blood pressure) from birth into adolescence and other detailed cardiovascular phenotypic measures on resting and dynamic blood pressure, heart rate, central blood pressure, arterial stiffness and cardiovascular structure and function as assessed by ultrasound and echocardiography at age 17.