Children are at the heart of new Tasmanian research which is hoping to develop new ways to detect premature vascular ageing to show whether a child may be at risk of heart disease later in life.
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Fresh from an overseas research stint in Paris, University of Tasmania Menzies medical researcher Rachel Climie has three research projects in the pipeline over the next five years, thanks to a $650,740 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants.
The research is pertinent for Tasmania, and especially North West Tasmania, with the Heart Foundation finding that the state has some of the highest rates of heart related deaths and hospital admissions.
It also has some of the highest levels of smoking, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, all serious risk factors contributing to heart disease.
Children are not immune from these risks, with weight issues in the young contributing to higher blood pressures more often.
Dr Climie said Tasmania has some of the worst health profiles in Australia.
"Heart disease is the leading cause of death here in Australia and globally. One Australian loses their life to heart disease every 12 minutes. 75 per cent of children are not meeting physical activity recommendations," Dr Climie said.
"In Tasmania, 30 per cent of children are overweight, compared to 25 per cent nationally.
"Globally, 57 per cent of children are predicted to be obese by the time they reach 35, and high blood pressure in children has increased by 75 per cent from 2000 to 2015."
Dr Climie said evidence now suggested that risk factors for heart disease begin in childhood.
"Those risk factors are worse in areas that are in social disadvantage," she said.
"I am shocked that in a country like Australia we have such inequality in health. Through my research I'm hoping to improve the heart health of children, particularly those born into social disadvantage. This is something I feel very strongly about, and I'm hoping I can contribute to reducing those inequalities."
Dr Climie added that the health of Tasmanian children is some of the poorest in the nation.
"So there is a strong case for doing this type of research in Tasmania."
The first of Dr Climie's research projects seeks to identify the factors that contribute to heart health in early life from womb to toddler hood, using data collected from a European study on mothers and their babies.
"We have access to data in over 55 thousand people, which is mother and baby. From this, we will be able to look at the determinants of heart health in very young children up to the age of three."
Evidence shows that early exposure to risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels, also physical inactivity and obesity, results in the impairment of blood vessels... children exposed to these risk factors do demonstrate premature vascular ageing.
- Menzies Institute medical researcher Dr Rachel Climie
She said the research would look at whether heart health is influenced by factors such as what the mother did during pregnancy, the type of delivery and breastfeeding and what happens in very early life, or whether factors after the child turns two are more influential on heart health.
The second project looks at establishing new ways to detect children who may be at risk of developing heart disease later in life, specifically by measuring the vascular age of blood vessels.
"It is looking at vascular ageing, or the deterioration of the structure and function of the blood vessels, mainly the large arteries that come off the heart and deliver blood to the rest of the body," Dr Climie said.
"There is increasing evidence to show that early exposure to those risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels, also physical inactivity and obesity, results in the impairment of blood vessels.
"There is a small amount of evidence to suggest that children exposed to these risk factors do demonstrate premature vascular ageing or early vascular ageing, but currently the evidence is quite limited."
Dr Climie said the research would determine the normal vascular ageing of blood vessels in children, and also premature vascular ageing.
She said measuring vascular age would provide an indication of the damage done throughout a lifetime, rather than just providing a snapshot of health at one particular time by assessing individual risk factors like blood pressure.
"By measuring vascular age in children we can potentially identify children who are at elevated risk of heart disease later in life," she said.
Dr Climie's third project then delves into prevention, working with schools and looking at ways to improve the the health literacy, and heart health, of children.
"We are hoping that by increasing the health literacy or health knowledge of children that they can potentially be empowered to take control of their own health, to understand the health messages that we are giving them and hopefully that will carry with them for the rest of their lives."
She said she hoped her projects make a difference.
"I feel I would like to give back to the community that I have grown up in...it is the Tasmanian community that I want to impact with my research."