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 g...