The goal of this revised 4-year proposal is to link adult cardiac structure and hemodynamic function with long-term serial childhood data for body size, body composition and blood pressure. To address this goal, 685 adult white active participants in the Fels Longitudinal Study, 352 men and 333 women 20 to 70 years of age, will be studied. These adults were selected based on the availability of serial body size data from 2 to 18 years and serial body composition data from 8 to 18 years. Echo cardiographic data for cardiac structure and hemodynamic parameters will be collected from these 685 adults using well defined procedures with a well-established quality control and assurance program. The availability of the long-term childhood records of these Fels participants for body size and composition provides a unique opportunity to relate childhood data to subsequent adult data for cardiac structure and blood pressure. The innovative longitudinal statistical analysis used will include covariates such as age, gender, birth year for secular trend, adulthood lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity), adult body size and composition, menopause, and medical condition and medication use. The analysis of the hypotheses in this proposed work links cardiac structure and hemodynamic parameters in adulthood to childhood growth and body composition. Such linkages will reveal how various growth and body composition profiles and patterns during childhood can lead either to pathological or to healthy cardiac structure and hemodynamic parameters in adulthood. Understanding adult cardiac outcomes in response to changes in fat and fat-free mass from childhood into adulthood will provide important clues about potential physiologic mechanisms underlying the observed changes in BMI. Elucidating adverse relationships through such a linkage can lead to the early identification of children at high risk for adult cardiovascular disease. This investigation will relate direct measures of body composition to adult cardiac structure and hemodynamic parameters.
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