Cardiovascular and Brain Health in Early Life - PhDData

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Cardiovascular and Brain Health in Early Life

The thesis was published by Costa Vicente Silva, Carolina, in December 2022, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Abstract:

Cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders are major causes of mortality and morbidity in the general adult population worldwide. Cardiovascular and brain health are closely related and share some common risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia. It has been proposed that adverse cardiovascular and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood and adulthood may originate in early life. Assessing the influence of early-life determinants on detailed cardiovascular and brain outcomes measures during childhood presents an opportunity to evaluate whether adverse early-life exposures may trigger manifestations of poorer health before the onset of clinically manifest diseases. Therefore, the general aim of this thesis was to assess the associations of early-life determinants, in particular psychological distress, growth, lifestyle and chemical exposures, with childhood cardiovascular and brain health. The studies presented in this thesis were embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Findings presented in this thesis highlight the importance of the first 1,000 days of life, time from conception through 2 years of age, as a critical period of development in which the foundations for a healthy growth is established. Specifically, the findings suggest that early-life determinants, such as maternal psychological distress, growth patterns, chemicals exposure and cardiovascular risk factors from early pregnancy onwards, are associated with childhood cardiovascular and brain health outcomes. The observed associations are relatively small, but may be important for the burden of cardiovascular and neurodevelopment disorders on a population level.



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