Trajectories of CVD risk factors and aggressive behaviour in childhood

  • Ms Sandra Louise, Australia
  • Ms Nicole Warrington, The University of Western Australia, Australia
  • Dr Eugen Mattes, The University of Western Australia, Australia
  • Dr Pamela McCaskie, The University of Western Australia, Australia
  • Professor Lyle Palmer, The University of Western Australia, Australia
  • Professor Lawrie Beilin, The University of Western Australia, Australia

Objective: Anger, hostility, depression and to a lesser extent aggression and anxiety, have all or in some combination, been associated with CVD in adults. Of the few studies that have investigated the association between aggression in children and/or adolescents, most have focussed on Type A behaviours (aggressive behaviour is part of this personality construct).
Furthermore relatively few studies have examined the association between aggression and cardiovascular risk factors across childhood through the use of longitudinal data. Therefore using a childhood cohort, the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study, we examined the longitudinal associations between cardiovascular disease risk factor trajectories and aggressive behaviour.

Methods: Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and BMI trajectories were constructed for boys (n=921) and girls (n=836) using linear mixed effect modelling. An interaction between aggressive behaviour (derived from the child behaviour checklist (CBCL)) and age was included to account for the potential development of aggressive behaviour over time. CVD risk factor and aggressive behaviour measurements were available at 6,8,10 and 14 years of age.

Results: Boys with higher aggressive scores over time had a decrease in the rate of change of their systolic blood pressure (p=0.012) throughout childhood. This association persisted after adjusting for BMI and low income (p=0.023).
Girls with higher aggressive scores over time had an increase in the rate of change of their BMI (p=0.00005) throughout childhood. This association persisted after adjusting for low income (p=0.0004).
No other associations were detected.

Conclusion: Aggressive behaviour from 6 years of age was associated with lower systolic blood pressure in boys and higher BMI in girls throughout childhood. Thus aggressive behaviour in childhood is likely to antedate obesity in adults but not hypertension. Further study of this cohort as they mature and modify lifestyle should give insight into the mechanisms underlying associations between behaviour and adult cardiovascular disease.