Socioeconomic status, cardiovascular risk factors, and subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

<p><strong>Objective:</strong> The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which socioeconomic status (SES) in young adults is associated with cardiovascular risk factor levels and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and their changes over a 6-year follow-up period.</p> <p><strong>Methods and Results:</strong> The study population included 1813 subjects participating in the 21- and 27-year follow-ups of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (baseline age 24-39 years in 2001). At baseline, SES (indexed with education) was inversely associated with body mass index (<i>P</i> = 0.0002), waist circumference (<i>P</i><0.0001), glucose (<i>P</i> = 0.01), and insulin (<i>P</i> = 0.0009) concentrations; inversely associated with alcohol consumption (<i>P</i> = 0.02) and cigarette smoking (<i>P</i> < 0.0001); and directly associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (<i>P</i> = 0.05) and physical activity (P=0.006). Higher SES was associated with a smaller 6-year increase in body mass index (<i>P</i> = 0.001). Education level and IMT were not associated (P=0.58) at baseline, but an inverse association was observed at follow-up among men (<i>P</i> = 0.004). This became nonsignificant after adjustment with conventional risk factors (<i>P</i> = 0.11). In all subjects, higher education was associated with a smaller increase in IMT during the follow-up (<i>P</i> = 0.002), and this association remained after adjustments for conventional risk factors (<i>P</i> = 0.04).</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> This study shows that high education in young adults is associated with favorable cardiovascular risk factor profile and 6-year change of risk factors. Most importantly, the progression of carotid atherosclerosis was slower among individuals with higher educational level.</p>