The role of socioeconomic differences, migration background and parental lifestyle on arterial stiffness in children

Background: The socioeconomic status (SES), migration background and parental lifestyle are shown to be associated with several cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and passive smoking in children. The aim of the present study is to examine the influence of these social background factors on arterial stiffness in children.
Methods: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was recorded with the non-invasive oscillometric Mobil-O-Graph device in 983 children aged six to eight years (51% female). Additionally, the parents completed a questionnaire about the SES, migration background and parental lifestyle.
Results: Children in the category of high household income had significantly lower PWV (4.30 Confidence interval (CI) [4.26; 4.34] m/s) compared to children in the lowest category (4.35 CI [4.32; 4.39] m/s; p=0.02). This correlation was not significant after adjusting to parental educational level. Further, children with smoking parents had significantly higher PWV (4.38 CI [4.35; 4.42] m/s) compared to children with non-smoking parents (4.31 CI [4.28; 4.34] m/s; p=<0.001). In parental educational level, migration background and parental physical activity (PA) trends were observed, favoring children with highly educated, native and physically active parents. These trends were not significant.
Conclusion: Household income correlated negatively, and parental smoking correlated positively with arterial stiffness in children. In the remaining social background factors e.g. parental educational level, migration background and parental PA, no significant associations were found. To prevent CV diseases in adulthood, an elucidation about discrepancies in household income and parental smoking is necessary.