Abstract 18162: Children First Study II: How an Educational Program in Cardiovascular Prevention at Public Schools Can Improve Parents’ Cardiovascular Risk

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether a multidisciplinary educational program in cardiovascular prevention for children could improve the Framingham cardiovascular risk (FCR) of their parents after one year, in public schools in Brazil. Methods: We performed a prospective community-based study in Brazil during 2013 that randomized students aged 6 to 10 years old to two different approaches to receiving healthy lifestyle information. The control group received written educational material (EM) for their parents about healthy lifestyle. The intervention group received the same EM for parents and children were exposed to a weekly educational program in cardiovascular prevention with a multidisciplinary health team. At onset and end of the study we collected data from parents and children (clinical information, weigh, height, arterial blood pressure and laboratorial tests). Results: We studied 265 children and 419 parents. Analyzing the parents’ FCR we found that 9% of the control group and 13% of the intervention group had more than a 10% year risk of cardiovascular heart disease over the next 10 years (intermediate/high FCR). After the children educational program during one year in public schools, the intervention group had a reduction of 30% in the intermediate/high FCR group compared with a 0% reduction in the control group (p<0.008). The risk factor that mainly contributed for FCR reduction in the intervention group was blood pressure, with a reduction in SBP of 122.45 to 118.46 mmHg (p<0.001), and DBP of 84.59 to 80.03 mmHg (p<0.001), with no reduction in the control group (117.47 to 118.01 mmHg for SBP, p=0.7241, and 76.60 to 77.45 mmHg for DBP, p=0.1387). Conclusion: An educational program for cardiovascular prevention directed to school age children in public schools can reduce the FCR risk of their parents, especially in the intermediate/high risk categories, like we observed in private schools.