Intergenerational transmission of arterial stiffness: the potential role of lifestyle-related behaviour

Arterial stiffness (AS) refers to the reduced elasticity or flexibility of the arteries, particularly the large arteries like the aorta. Substantial evidence suggests that a parental history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) confers greater risk of future CVD among offspring, however there is a lack of evidence on the intergenerational transmission modified by other predictors. The overall aim of our project is to evaluate an intergenerational transmission of AS in a population-based cohort and to see if this association is moderated by parental lifestyle-related behaviors and parental cardiometabolic conditions. The participants will be recruited from the Lifelines Cohort Study (Lifelines) in the Netherlands. The composite indicator for AS will be obtained after merging ECG findings, sfAGE, HbA1C, and pulse pressure findings, separately for the offspring and the parent (reading of any one of the parents; higher stiffness reading of the two parents will be selected). The AS score will be analyzed both as a continuous variable and a categorical variable after binning into two categories (high and low stiffness).