Conceptual framework of a simplified multi-dimensional model presenting the environmental and personal determinants of cardiometabolic risk behaviors in childhood

Abstract

Clinical manifestations of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) may be set early in childhood due to unfavorable behaviors or lifestyle patterns related to diet and physical activity. Several factors may determine the adoption of such lifestyle-related behaviors, which researchers have tried to cluster under certain frameworks or models. In this context, the framework developed and proposed by this review gathers all the present knowledge regarding these determining factors to date and groups them into three main categories related to personal characteristics and the social and physical environment. Based on the proposed framework, a large variety of personal, social and physical environmental factors can positively or negatively influence CMR-related behaviors (either directly or indirectly via their interrelations), thus leading to decreased or increased risk, respectively. This framework could be of great value to public health policy makers and legislators for designing and implementing interventional programs tailored to the needs of susceptible population groups who are most in need for such initiatives. Targeting the correlates as potential determinants of CMR-related behaviors, and not just on the behaviors themselves, has been shown previously to be the most effective approach for tackling health issues related to CMR starting from early life stages.

Associations of Child Temperament with Child Overweight and Breakfast Habits: A Population Study in Five-Year-Olds

“…Among the nutritional risk factors for childhood overweight are breakfast skipping, low consumption of fruit and vegetables, and increased consumption of confectionary, soft drinks, fruit juices and fast food [ 8 ]. Eating breakfast provides important nutrients to the child at the beginning of the day, which is needed for basic functioning and cognitive performance at school [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Dietary patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors among adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The term cardiometabolic risk (CMR) refers to clinical abnormalities that predict chronic disease, such as CVD and/or type 2 diabetes. The term was proposed by the American Diabetes and Heart Associations and has been adopted by scientists and clinicians to describe a set of clinical signs that include hyperinsulinaemia, abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidaemia (reduced HDL-cholesterol and hypertriglyceridaemia) and elevated blood pressure (BP) ( 1 , 2 ) .…”

Built Environment and Health Behaviors: Deconstructing the Black Box of Interactions—A Review of Reviews

“…Behaviors. Regarding diet, the main outcome behaviors examined by the reviews were the purchase and consumption of certain types of foods [8,21,22,24,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47]. PA-related behaviors varied between measures of total PA [25,51,53], PA levels (light, moderate, vigorous) [22,24,25,27,30,48,51,57], walking [12,25,26], biking [24,28,29] and exercising [30,31,32].…”