Early Childhood Environmental Drivers of Cardiovascular Health
摘要
The environment where young children are born, grow, act, live, and age is dynamic, interconnected, and constantly influencing their cardiovascular health (CVH) by introducing exposures that trigger biological responses. From conception, early-life environmental exposures play a critical role in life course CVH. The term “exposome” was coined to comprehensively describe the complexity of environmental exposures across the lifetime that can impact human health. In this chapter, we adopt this exposome perspective to characterize the multiple environmental exposures that cumulatively and simultaneously influence the maintenance of ideal CVH across the lifespan. To guide our review, we classify the “totality of exposures” a young child encounters in their socioecological systems by the three most salient types that are known to influence their CVH, early in life or across the life course: (1) social, (2) place-based and (3) physical-biochemical exposures. Although we introduce social, place-based, and physical-biochemical exposures independently, these environmental exposures interact with multiple determinants and their presence is influenced by multiple socio-ecosystems, in significant ways. We review the dynamic environmental stimuli young children encounter in three interconnected socio-ecosystems highly relevant during early childhood: their household, community, and country or global contexts. In these spheres of influence, children encounter opportunities and resources that enhance or deter their ability to maintain high levels of CVH in childhood and across their lifespan. A better understanding of the exposome’s influence to CVH is critical for developing effective solutions to prevent CVH losses and inequities in cardiovascular disease outcomes from conception.