Weight gain in childhood could lead to an enlarged heart by early adulthood, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health in New Orleans followed 467 children for almost 22 years. Researchers compared medical data obtained from the participants at childhood with data obtained at young adulthood.
Results show body mass index scores correlated with heart size. Participants who had the highest BMI levels in childhood also had the largest hearts. Researchers also note half of the obese adults were also obese as children.
Authors of the study say these results stress the importance of early health education and intervention.
Gerald S. Berenson, M.D., the study’s principal investigator, says, “We need to begin to teach health habits in childhood. This is one of the major things we have learned from the Bogalusa Heart Study, that heart disease often begins in childhood.”
SOURCE: To be published in an upcoming issue of Circulation