Abstract

Parent-child associations of height, weight, subscapular skinfold thickness, blood pressure, and serum lipids and lipoproteins were observed in a cohort of 440 infants and their parents in Bogalusa, LA. The infants were examined according to a standardized protocol six times from birth to 7 years of age, and the parents were examined when the child was 2 years old. Regression analyses were performed with the value of the cardiovascular risk factor variable for the child as the dependent variable and race, sex of child, and either mother's value, father's value, or both mother's and father's values as the independent variables. The most significant relationship between parents and their children was for height (P less than .005 at all ages of the child) and weight (P less than .05 from age 1 year for father's regression coefficient and at all ages for mother's regression coefficient). Regression coefficients for parental serum lipids and lipoproteins tended to increase with the child's age. Child-father regression coefficients and child-mother regression coefficients were generally significant (P less than .05) after age 2 years for total cholesterol. Less association was noted for triglycerides and lipoproteins. Parental diastolic BP was a poor predictor of children's values; the regression coefficients for systolic BP were higher and more significant. The longitudinal nature of this cohort study allows for examination of the changing patterns of familial association with aging and may provide insight as to the best age for examining children for cardiovascular risk factors to determine their relative risk for heart disease.