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Economic conditions confer metabolic syndrome risk in black adolescents
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Among black individuals aged 16 or 17 years at the time of the Great Recession, those whose families were in poverty and whose economic situation got worse had elevated risk for metabolic syndrome, according to findings.
The researchers analyzed prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 328 individuals from the SHAPE cohort study of black youth in poor areas of rural Georgia aged 16 or 17 years during the Great Recession from late 2007 to mid-2009.
Metabolic syndrome includes waist circumference of at least 94 cm in males and at least 80 cm in females, triglycerides of at least 150 mg/dL, systolic BP of at least 130 mm Hg or diastolic BP of at least 85 mm Hg, HDL less than 40 mg/dL in males and less than 50 mg/dL in females and fasting glucose of at least 100 mg/dL, and confers elevated risk for MI, stroke and diabetes, according to the study background.
“In previous studies, heart attack and stroke rates have gone up in older adults during economic downturns, particularly when the labor market is bad,” Gregory E. Miller, PhD, professor of psychology and faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, said in a press release. “But few, if any, studies have looked at how these same economic forces affect cardiovascular risk in young people.”
Miller and colleagues assessed participants for metabolic syndrome at age 25 years and stratified them by family economic trajectory during the Great Recession — stable low income, low income declining into poverty or poverty with worsening conditions.
The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the cohort according to International Diabetes Federation guidelines was 18.6%, which is consistent with national estimates, according to Miller and colleagues.
However, prevalence varied by family economic trajectory. The rate was 10.4% in those whose families remained low income above the poverty line, 21.8% in those whose families’ status declined from low income to below the poverty line, and 27.5% in those whose families began the Great Recession in poverty and whose conditions worsened (contrast estimate, 0.117; standard error, 0.038; P for trend = .003), the researchers wrote.
Defining metabolic syndrome by the number of metabolic syndrome signs met, by a continuously distributed composite using weighted scores from factor analysis or by the Harmonized MetS Criteria did not change the results.
Notably, those whose families remained low income above the poverty line had lower rates of metabolic syndrome vs. the national average for people in their 20s, Miller said in the release.
“It may be that there were `protective resources’ that these teenagers drew upon that insulated them from the larger economic forces,” he said. “Strong family relationships, community ties through churches and schools are a real strength that may have offset some of the risk that came with the Great Recession.” – by Erik Swain
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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