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Physical Activity, Fitness, and Sedentariness with MEtabolic, VAscular, and Cardiac health in pediatric population (PAFSMEVAC)´s Profile image

Physical Activity, Fitness, and Sedentariness with MEtabolic, VAscular, and Cardiac health in pediatric population (PAFSMEVAC)

Project
01.01.2020 - 31.12.2035
Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
Information People Publications

Funders

Main funder

Finnish Cultural Foundation

Other funders

Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation North Savo Finnish Cultural Foundation Aarne Koskelo Foundation Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research Orion Foundation Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation Paavo Nurmi Foundation Paulo Foundation

Leaders

Introducing image of the groupPhysical Activity, Fitness, and Sedentariness with MEtabolic, VAscular, and Cardiac health in pediatric population (PAFSMEVAC)

The PAFSMEVAC project aims to:

  1. Improve understanding of the development of cardiovascular, metabolic, and arterial diseases from childhood until young adulthood.
  2. Identify critical time period of significant deviation from physiology to pathology during growth and maturation.
  3. Simulate potential intervention effects in situation were randomized clinical trials are lacking in apparently healthy children and adolescents.
  4. Examine mechanistic cross-talk within modifiable risk factors and non-modifiable risk factors to inform potentially effective intervention strategies.
  5. Investigate causal inferences in risk factors relationships that prospectively influence cardiac, metabolic, and arterial health from childhood through young adulthood.
  6. Discover novel risk factors for several paediatric diseases such as hypertension, insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes), obesity, premature cardiac damage, atherosclerosis, dyslipidaemia in which several intervention strategies have had limited success.
  7. To fill knowledge gaps identified by the World Health Organization and other global public health agencies through the provision of substantial scientific evidence useful in updating health guidelines in primarily preventing non-communicable diseases.

Modifiable risk factors are total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, insulin resistance (glucose and insulin), blood pressure, heart rate, low-grade inflammation, obesity, body composition (fat mass and muscle mass), sedentary time, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, smoking habit, cardiorespiratory fitness. Risk factors where measured during clinic visit from childhood starting at age 7 years and repeated either yearly or bi-annually until age 17 years. Young adulthood assessments occurred at age 24 years clinic visit, the 30-year clinic visit is currently ongoing (2022 – 2024).

The major study outcomes are: arterial stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity), carotid intima-media thickness, carotid elasticity or distensibility, left ventricular concentric and eccentric hypertrophy, left ventricular diastolic function, left ventricular filling pressure, etc. These cardiac and vascular outcomes were measured both in adolescence (age 17 years) and young adulthood (age 24 years).

Data and Population Size:

Data for urFIT-child research project are drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as Children of the 90s, a world-leading UK ongoing birth cohort study. More than 14,000 pregnant women were recruited from April 1991 through December 1992 and 14,901 foetuses arising from the pregnancy, and their partners have been followed up intensively over three decades. The ALSPAC study website contains details of all the data that are available (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/our-data/).

Population who attended specific clinic visits:

Clinic visit        Population sample size
@Age 7 years:         8 290

@Age 8 years:         7 488

@Age 9 years:         7 722

@Age 10+ years:    7 557

@Age 11+ years:    7 153

@Age 12+ years:   6 832

@Age 13+ years:   6 147

@Age 15+ years:   5 515

@Age 17+ years:   5 081

@Age 24+ years:  4 026

@Age 30+ years:  ongoing

 

Impact:

To disseminate findings in high impact and leading scientific journals in addition to providing simple texts (press release) understandable to the general population and tax payers who have funded the research. This evidence would be helpful in updating public health recommendation from childhood to enable a healthier life course.

 

News

Cooperation

  • University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

Leaders

Professors

Publications

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