Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background
Recent findings from large-scale cohort studies indicate that risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and smoking during youth, starting in early childhood and adolescence, are associated with cardiovascular events and cardiovascular-related mortality in adulthood. The secular trends of cardiovascular risk factors among US children and adolescents remain unclear.
Objectives
To examine 20-year trends in cardiovascular risk factors in the children and adolescents population by race and ethnicity and by socioeconomic status.
Methods
The primary objective of the NHANES is to evaluate the overall health and nutritional status of the U.S. population. In this analysis, data from ten NHANES survey cycles, conducted from 1999-2000 through 2019-2020, were utilized. We calculated the mean and proportion changes in cardiovascular risk factors, and used linear and quadratic tests to assess the linear and nonlinear trends in their changes.
Results
A total of 27891 participants aged 6 to 19-year-olds were included. Mean BMI increased significantly from 20.61kg/m² in 1999 to 21.71kg/m² in 2020 (P for trend < 0.001). COT means decreased from 11.47 ng/ml to 6.17 ng/ml (P for trend < 0.001). The prevalence of high COT decreased from 14.64% to 8.68% (P for trend < 0.001). TC decreased from 4.22mmol/L to 4.02 mmol/L (P for trend < 0.001). In the study population, TG levels decreased from 0.9mmol/L to 0.79 mmol/L (P for trend < 0.001). Mean LDL levels decreased from 2.45 mmol/L to 2.27 mmol/L (P for trend < 0.001).
Conclusion
Positive trends were observed in the levels of TG, TC, LDL, and COT in US children and adolescents. Mean BMI and the prevalence of obesity exhibited a gradually increasing unfavorable trend.