Clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors and the continuous cardiometabolic risk score in children from Southern Brazil: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to verify the clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and its relationship with the continuous cardiometabolic risk score (cMetS).

Methods: Cross-sectional study with 631 children aged 6 to 9 years. Cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, triglycerides, and waist circumference were assessed. The number of children in whom the risk factors were not independently distributed was analyzed. Z-scores were computed for each risk factor to calculate the cMetS.

Results: There was a high proportion of children with clustering of risk factors for CVD. The clustering of risk factors was apparent in 11.3% of the children for four or more risk factors, and 21.9% had three or more risk factors. The cMetS showed a linear relationship with the increase in the number of risk factors. A cMetS value higher than 0.91 indicated clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors amongst children.

Conclusion: The use of clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors identified a high proportion of children with the presence of relevant cardiometabolic alterations. A cMetS value higher than 0.91 (relative to an international standard) indicated higher clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors amongst children.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-021-00845-9.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Child; Metabolic syndrome; Pediatric.

Fig. 1

Flow chart showing the population and sampling design

Fig. 2

Comparison of cMetS with number of risk factors clustered for boys and girls