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According to a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or have suffered a heart attack or stroke, it may be partly due to the neighbourhood that you grew up in.<\/p>\nAccording to a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or have suffered a heart attack or stroke, it may be partly due to the neighbourhood that you grew up in.<\/p>\n
This is not 100% foolproof, but children growing up in specific neighbourhoods seem to be at a much higher risk of these diseases later on in life.<\/p>\n
Research was collected and information related to the socioeconomic conditions of 1,477 Australian families was analysed together with the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which they lived.<\/p>\n
Socioeconomic information includes financial income and the occupation and education of parents.<\/p>\n
To assess the effects of these conditions on heart health, researchers measured the thickness of the kid’s right carotid artery when they were between 11 and 12 years old.<\/p>\n
Adults with thicker carotid artery walls have been found to be at a greater risk for heart attacks and strokes than other adults, so this is a good way to examine whether this risk factor started in the childhoods of poorer children.<\/p>\n
They found that children who grew up both in families and neighbourhoods with poor socio-economic conditions had thicker arterial walls than kids who grew up in wealthier families and neighbourhoods did. The family’s socio-economic circumstances played a much larger role.<\/p>\n
Children in the poorest 25% of families were 46% more likely to have thick arterial walls than their wealthier peers.<\/p>\n
In addition, they discovered that poverty at age two to three made it more likely that kids would have thick arterial walls at age 11-12.<\/p>\n
Exposure to second-hand smoke, blood pressure and body weight did not cause this finding, since the conclusion remained the same when these factors were excluded as possible explanations.<\/p>\n
Based on other studies conducted, the scientists argued that children from poorer homes suffered from more infections and more inflammation than wealthier kids.<\/p>\n