225 - Father-child relationship, cardiovascular health, and subclinical cardiovascular disease in the FF-CHAYA (Future of Families–Cardiovascular Health Among Young Adults) study

Publication Number: 2216.225

John James Parker, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Lake Bluff, IL, United States; Craig Garfield, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Clarissa Simon, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Noreen Goldman, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States; Daniel A. Notterman, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States; Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Norrina Allen, Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States

Background: Father-child relationship quality has been associated with various health outcomes, but there is a lack of longitudinal studies that record objective health data.

Objective: Test the associations between child-father relationship closeness with cardiovascular health (CVH) and early arterial injury.

Design/Methods: We included participants from the FF-CHAYA (Future of Families–Cardiovascular Health Among Young Adults) study, a subcohort of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). FFCWS is a national representative, longitudinal birth cohort study of nearly 5000 individuals born in large U.S. cities (1998-2000) that collected extensive data on neighborhood, family, and behavioral exposures. At year 15 (Y15) participants reported how close they felt to their mother and father. At year 22 (Y22), the FF-CHAYA subcohort attended an in-person examination to obtain questionnaire data, anthropometry, phlebotomy, and carotid ultrasonography with measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), a marker of early arterial injury. CVH was quantified using the Life’s Essential 8 score (score 0–100; higher is better CVH). Of the 1421 young adults examined in the FF-CHAYA study, we excluded those with key missing data (N=13), missing father-child relationship data (N= 252), and pregnant at Y22 (N=33). We performed multivariable linear regression to assess the difference in CVH score and cIMT by father-child relationship status adjusting for child age, race, sex, primary caregiver income level, father’s age, and mother-child relationship.

Results: In this study sample of 1166 participants, 367 (31.2%) reported being “extremely close,” 279 (23.9%) “quite close,” 212 (18.2%) “fairly close” and 308 (26.4%) “not very close” with their father at Y15 (Table 1). In age, race, and sex adjusted models, participants who reported being “not very close” to their father had lower total CVH than those who reported being “extremely close” to their father, (=-2.84, 95%CI= -4.96, -0.72), but this association was attenuated in fully adjusted models (=-1.53, 95%CI= -3.91, 0.84) (Table 2). In fully adjusted models, participants who reported being “not very close” to their father had higher mean-mean cIMT (=0.014, 95%CI= 0.004, 0.02), and mean-max cIMT (=0.011, 95%CI= 0.001, 0.013), than those who reported being “extremely close” to their father.

Conclusion(s): Father-child relationship closeness is associated with markers of early arterial injury highlighting the need to further investigate the relationship between parenting and the development of cardiovascular disease.

Table 1: Characteristics of the sample at year 15 by father-child closeness status
father-child closeness PAS abstract Table 1.pdf

Table 2: Associations of father-child relationship closeness with cardiovascular health (Life’s Essential 8 score) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) using multivariable linear regression
Table 2- Associations of father-child relationship closeness with cardiovascular health, PAS abstract.pdfBold signifies p<0.05
Model 1 adjusted for child age, race, and sex
Model 2 adjusted for child age, race, and sex; primary caregivers education level and poverty level; fathers age; and the child’s relationship with mom