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Tracking of secretory phospholipase A2 enzyme activity levels from childhood to adulthood: a 21-year cohort Please cite this article as: Chung O, Juonala M, Mallat Z, Hutri-Kähönen N, Viikari JS, Raitakari OT, et al. Tracking of secretory phospholipase A2 enzyme activity levels from childhood to adulthood: a 21-year cohort. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2019;95:247-54.

Abstract

Objective:

Secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) enzyme activity is a potential inflammatory biomarker for cardiovascular disease. We examined the tracking, or persistence, of sPLA2 enzyme activity levels from childhood to adulthood, and identify potentially modifiable factors affecting tracking.

Method:

Prospective cohort of 1735 children (45% females) who had serum sPLA2 enzyme activity levels and other cardiovascular disease risk factors measured in 1980 that were followed-up in 2001.

Results:

sPLA2 activity tracked from childhood to adulthood for males (r = 0.39) and females (r = 0.45). Those who decreased body mass index relative to their peers were more likely to resolve elevated childhood sPLA2 levels than have persistent elevated sPLA2 levels in childhood and adulthood. Those who consumed less fruit, and gained more body mass index relative to their peers, began smoking or were a persistent smoker between childhood and adulthood were more likely to develop incident elevated sPLA2 levels than those with persistent not elevated sPLA2 levels.

Conclusions:

Childhood sPLA2 enzyme activity levels associate with adult sPLA2 levels 21 years later. Healthful changes in modifiable risk factors that occur between childhood and adulthood might prevent children from developing elevated sPLA2 levels in adulthood.

KEYWORDS
Atherosclerosis; Cohort study; Inflammation; Prevention

Resumo

Objetivo:

A atividade da enzima fosfolipase A2 secretória (sPLA2) é um possível biomarcador inflamatório de doença cardiovascular. Examinamos o monitoramento, ou a persistência, dos níveis de atividade da enzima sPLA2 da infância à vida adulta e identificamos fatores possivelmente modificáveis que afetam o monitoramento.

Método:

Coorte prospectiva de 1.735 crianças (45% do sexo feminino) cujos níveis de atividade da enzima sPLA2 no soro e outros fatores de risco para doença cardiovascular foram medidos em 1980 e acompanhados até 2011.

Resultados:

Atividade da enzima sPLA2 monitorada da infância à vida adulta para indivíduos do sexo masculino (r = 0,39) e sexo feminino (r = 0,45). Aqueles que diminuíram seus índices de massa corporal com relação a seus pares foram mais propensos à redução dos níveis elevados de sPLA2 na infância do que a manter níveis persistentemente elevados de sPLA2 na infância e vida adulta. Aqueles que consumiram menos frutas e ganharam mais índice de massa corporal com relação a seus pares, que começaram a fumar ou foram fumantes persistentes entre a infância e vida adulta foram mais propensos a desenvolver níveis de sPLA2 elevados do que aqueles com níveis de sPLA2 não elevados persistentes.

Conclusões:

Os níveis de atividade da enzima sPLA2 na infância estão associados aos níveis de sPLA2 na vida adulta, 21 anos mais tarde. As mudanças saudáveis nos fatores de risco modificáveis que ocorrem entre a infância e a vida adulta podem evitar que as crianças desenvolvam níveis elevados de sPLA2 na vida adulta.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE
Aterosclerose; Estudo de coorte; Inflamação; Prevenção

Introduction

Inflammatory biomarkers have been observed in all stages of atherosclerosis development.11 Mallat Z, Lambeau G, Tedgui A. Lipoprotein-associated and secreted phospholipases A(2) in cardiovascular disease: roles as biological effectors and biomarkers. Circulation. 2010;122:2183-200. Research into secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) enzyme activity has gained interest over other inflammatory biomarkers owing to its increased specificity to the vasculature.22 Rosenson RS, Hurt-Camejo E. Phospholipase A2 enzymes and the risk of atherosclerosis. Eur Heart J. 2012;33:2899-909.

sPLA2 belongs to a superfamily of enzymes known as the phospholipase A2s. These enzymes are responsible for catalysing the hydrolysis of fatty acid from the sn-2 position of membrane phospholipids, the release of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and host defence against bacterial infection.33 Lambeau G, Gelb M. Biochemistry and physiology of mammalian secreted phospholipases A2. Annu Rev Biochem. 2008;77:495-520. Release of sPLA2 promotes production of many eicosanoids and bioactive lipid mediators.44 Funk CD. Prostaglandins and leukotrienes: advances in eicosanoid biology. Science. 2001;294:1871-5. The effect of sPLA2 on lipoproteins releases several lipid mediators at the place of lipoprotein retention within the wall of the artery, triggering local inflammatory cellular responses.55 Hurt-Camejo E, Camejo G, Peilot H, Oorni K, Kovanen P. Phospholipase A(2) in vascular disease. Circ Res. 2001;89:298-304. sPLA2 also has direct action on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, inducing them to have a more atherogenic effect.55 Hurt-Camejo E, Camejo G, Peilot H, Oorni K, Kovanen P. Phospholipase A(2) in vascular disease. Circ Res. 2001;89:298-304. These sPLA2-induced changes are thought to contribute to atherosclerosis development,66 Boekholdt SM, Keller TT, Wareham NJ, Luben R, Bingham SA, Day NE, et al. Serum levels of type II secretory phospholipase A2 and the risk of future coronary artery disease in apparently healthy men and women: the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005;25:839-46.,77 Mallat Z, Steg PG, Benessiano J, Tanguy ML, Fox KA, Collet JP, et al. Circulating secretory phospholipase A2 activity predicts recurrent events in patients with severe acute coronary syndromes. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;46:1249-57. sparking interest as a potential target for intervention. Although early phase clinical trials have supported the efficacy of sPLA2 inhibition using pharmacological intervention,88 Rosenson RS, Hislop C, McConnell D, Elliott M, Stasiv Y, Wang N, et al. Effects of 1-H-indole-3-glyoxamide (A-002) on concentration of secretory phospholipase A2 (PLASMA study): a phase II double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2009;373:649-58.

9 Rosenson RS, Hislop C, Elliott M, Stasiv Y, Goulder M, Waters D. Effects of varespladib methyl on biomarkers and major cardiovascular events in acute coronary syndrome patients. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;56:1079-88.
-1010 Rosenson RS, Elliott M, Stasiv Y, Hislop C, Investigators PI. Randomized trial of an inhibitor of secretory phospholipase A2 on atherogenic lipoprotein subclasses in statin-treated patients with coronary heart disease. Eur Heart J. 2011;32:999-1005. the only phase III trial conducted revealed contrary results,1111 Nicholls SJ, Kastelein JJ, Schwartz GG, Bash D, Rosenson RS, Cavender MA, et al. Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2014;311:252-62. and results from Mendelian randomisation studies have been equivocal of a causal role for sPLA2 enzyme activity in cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes.1212 Holmes MV, Simon T, Exeter HJ, Folkersen L, Asselbergs FW, Guardiola M, et al. Secretory phospholipase A(2)-IIA and cardiovascular disease: a mendelian randomization study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013;62:1966-76.,1313 Breitling LP, Koenig W, Fischer M, Mallat Z, Hengstenberg C, Rothenbacher D, et al. Type II secretory phospholipase A2 and prognosis in patients with stable coronary heart disease: mendelian randomization study. PLoS ONE. 2011;6:e22318.

Vessel changes favouring atherosclerosis begin in childhood1414 Berenson G, Srinivasan S, Bao W, Newman W, Tracy R, Wattigney W. Association between multiple cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis in children and young adults. N Engl J Med. 1998;338:1650-6. and traditional CVD risk factors (lipoproteins, blood pressure, adiposity) track, or persist, from childhood to adulthood.1515 Juhola J, Magnussen CG, Viikari JS, Kähönen M, Hutri-Kähönen N, Jula A, et al. Tracking of serum lipid levels, blood pressure, and body mass index from childhood to adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. J Pediatr. 2011;159:584-90. However, no studies have examined if sPLA2 enzyme activity levels track from childhood to adulthood. Using data from the 21-year follow up of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, we examined if sPLA2 enzyme activity levels track from childhood to adulthood, and the potentially modifiable lifestyle-related factors that affect tracking over this period.

Methods

Study population

The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study is a population-based prospective follow-up on 3596 Finnish children and adolescents aged 3-18 years who participated at baseline in 1980. In 2001, 2283 of the baseline participants attended clinics, aged 24-39 years. Measurements of serum sPLA2 were performed on those with available samples from both 1980 and 2001 (n = 2245). We excluded participants who had a condition that may predispose them to altered sPLA2 levels: participants with chronic rheumatic disease (n = 34; sPLA2 activity 1.80 (1.29-2.22) nmol/min/mL in 2001); females who reported they were pregnant (n = 59; sPLA2 activity 1.67 (1.33-2.08) nmol/min/mL in 2001); participants who reported having an infection with fever in the last 2 weeks (n = 104; sPLA2 activity 1.65 (1.32-2.08) nmol/min/mL in 2001); females who reported current use of oral contraceptives (n = 288; sPLA2 activity 1.78 (1.39-2.28) nmol/min/mL in 2001; n = 25; sPLA2 activity 0.52 (0.41-0.97) nmol/min/mL in 1980). After exclusions, data on 1735 participants were left for our primary analyses. The study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki, and local ethics committees approved the study protocols. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants in 2001, and their parents in 1980.

Clinical measurements and risk factors

At both time-points, height was measured with a Seca anthropometer and weight was measured with Seca scales (Vogel Halke, Hamburg, Germany). Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) was calculated. Self-report questionnaires administered at baseline and follow-up collected data on smoking, dietary habits, and physical activity.1616 Juonala M, Viikari JS, Rönnemaa T, Taittonen L, Marniemi J, Raitakari OT. Childhood C-reactive protein in predicting CRP and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:1883-8. Information on smoking habits was only collected amongst participants aged 12-18 years at baseline. Participants who smoked at least weekly at baseline or daily at follow-up were considered smokers. Fruit and vegetable consumption was reported based on six options (1 = daily, 2 = almost every day, 3 = a couple of times per week, 4 = about once a week, 5 = a couple of times per month, 6 = less than a couple of times per month), which was converted into times of consumption per week (1, >9.5; 2, >6.3; 3, >3; 4, >1.2; 5, >0.3; 6, >0.1).1717 Juonala M, Viikari JS, Kähönen M, Taittonen L, Laitinen T, Hutri-Kähönen N, et al. Life-time risk factors and progression of carotid atherosclerosis in young adults: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study. Eur Heart J. 2010;31:1745-51. Physical activity index (range from 5 (low) to 15 (high)), was determined by participant's self-report of duration, intensity, and frequency of physical activity.1818 Telama R, Yang X, Viikari J, Välimäki I, Wanne O, Raitakari O. Physical activity from childhood to adulthood: a 21-year tracking study. Am J Prev Med. 2005;28:267-73. Socioeconomic position (SEP) was based on highest level of parental occupation at baseline (manual, lower-grade non-manual, higher-grade non-manual) and participant occupation at follow-up.1919 Kivimäki M, Lawlor DA, Juonala M, Smith GD, Elovainio M, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, et al. Lifecourse socioeconomic position. C-reactive protein, and carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005;25:2197-202.

Serum sPLA2 enzyme activity measurements

In 1980 and 2001, blood samples were taken from the antecubital vein after participants confirmed they had fasted overnight. Serum sPLA2 enzyme activity was measured in 2006 from 1980 blood samples stored at −20 °C, and 2001 samples stored at −80 °C.2020 Mattsson N, Magnussen CG, Rönnemaa T, Mallat Z, Benessiano J, Jula A, et al. Metabolic syndrome and carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: roles of apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A-I, C-reactive protein, and secretory phospholipase A2: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2010;30:1861-6. Measurement of sPLA2 enzyme activity includes several groups of sPLA2 (IIA, V, X)2121 Mallat Z, Benessiano J, Simon T, Ederhy S, Sebella-Arguelles C, Cohen A, et al. Circulating secretory phospholipase A2 activity and risk of incident coronary events in healthy men and women: the EPIC-Norfolk study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2007;27:1177-83. expressed in atherosclerotic lesions from human and animal models.2222 Rosenson RS. Future role for selective phospholipase A2 inhibitors in the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther. 2009;23:93-101. Hydrolysis of substrate without plasma was used as the negative control and deduced from sPLA2 activity. Samples were tested in duplicate. Intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were <10% and the minimum detectable level of sPLA2 activity was 0.10 nmol/min/mL.

Statistical analyses

All analyses were performed using STATA 13.1 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA).

Demographics

Baseline and follow-up characteristics are displayed for male and female participants. Continuous variables are displayed as mean (standard deviation) for normally distributed variables and median (25-75th percentiles) for variables with a non-normal distribution. Categorical variables are displayed as N (percent). We also plot age on mean sPLA2 enzyme activity levels by sex.

Tracking of sPLA2 levels from childhood to adulthood

Tracking was estimated by two approaches used in previous tracking studies2323 Magnussen CG, Thomson R, Cleland VJ, Ukoumunne OC, Dwyer T, Venn A. Factors affecting the stability of blood lipid and lipoprotein levels from youth to adulthood. Arch Paediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165:9.,2424 Kelly RK, Thomson R, Smith KJ, Dwyer T, Venn A, Magnussen CG. Factors Affecting tracking of blood pressure from childhood to adulthood: The Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study. J Pediatr. 2015;167, 1422-1428.e2.: (1) rank correlations by applying Pearson's correlation to the rank of baseline and follow-up sPLA2 measurements; and (2) the proportion of participants remaining in the upper quarter of age- and sex-specific sPLA2 distributions at both time-points. We report partial correlations adjusted for age when ages are combined, or adjusted age and sex when data for age and sex are combined. sPLA2 measurements at both time-points were ranked prior to correlation analyses owing to a right-skewed distribution. We performed Pearson's correlation on the sPLA2 ranks, as STATA does not have a function to perform partial Spearman's correlations.

Factors affecting sPLA2 levels from child to adulthood

Participants were divided into four tracking groups based on their sPLA2 enzyme activity status from childhood to adulthood. Participants who remained in the upper quarter of age- and sex-specific sPLA2 distributions at both time-points were classified as persistent elevated; those who were in the upper quarter in childhood but not at follow-up were classified as resolution; those who were not in the upper quarter in childhood but were in adulthood were classified as incident; and those who did not have sPLA2 levels in the upper quarter at both childhood and adulthood were classified as persistent not elevated (Supplemental Fig. 1 Appendix A Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jped.2018.01.002. ). This approach has been adopted in other studies examining factors that influence tracking of lipids and blood pressure between childhood and adulthood.2323 Magnussen CG, Thomson R, Cleland VJ, Ukoumunne OC, Dwyer T, Venn A. Factors affecting the stability of blood lipid and lipoprotein levels from youth to adulthood. Arch Paediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165:9.,2424 Kelly RK, Thomson R, Smith KJ, Dwyer T, Venn A, Magnussen CG. Factors Affecting tracking of blood pressure from childhood to adulthood: The Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study. J Pediatr. 2015;167, 1422-1428.e2.

Changes (adult minus child) in continuous variables (BMI, physical activity index, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption) were analysed using age- and sex-specific z-scores at each time-point. As an indicator of change or stability in SEP, we created a categorical social mobility variable2525 Cleland VJ, Ball K, Magnussen C, Dwyer T, Venn A. Socioeconomic position and the tracking of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness from childhood to adulthood. Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170:1069-77. that considered the highest level of parental (mother or father) occupation at baseline and participant occupation at follow-up.1919 Kivimäki M, Lawlor DA, Juonala M, Smith GD, Elovainio M, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, et al. Lifecourse socioeconomic position. C-reactive protein, and carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005;25:2197-202. This variable has the following categories: persistently low (low at baseline and follow-up), persistently medium (medium at baseline and follow-up), persistently high (high at baseline and follow-up), upwardly mobile (moving from medium at baseline to high at follow-up, or low at baseline to medium or high at follow-up), and downwardly mobile (moving medium at baseline to low at follow-up, or from high at baseline to medium or low at follow-up). Participants were categorised into one of four categories based on their smoking status at both time-points: not smoking at either time-point, stopped smoking (smoking at baseline, not at follow-up), began smoking (did not smoke at baseline, smoked at follow-up), and smoker at both time-points.

Using logistic regression, we compared changes in the lifestyle-related variables of BMI, physical activity index, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, smoking status, and social mobility between persistent elevated (reference) and resolution sPLA2 tracking groups and between persistent not elevated (reference) and incident sPLA2 tracking groups. As no significant sex interactions were observed, the data are not stratified by sex.

Results

Demographics

Characteristics outlining the population are presented in Table 1. At baseline and follow up, females had higher sPLA2 enzyme activity levels compared with males. Fig. 1 displays mean sPLA2 enzyme activity levels as a function of age at both time-points. There was a significant (negative) age trend for boys aged 3-18 years (p < 0.001). There were no clear age trends in girls, or in adulthood for males or females.

Table 1
Characteristics of up to 1735 participants in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study who had secretory phospholipase (sPLA2) enzyme activity measurements in childhood (1980) and adulthood (2001).

Figure 1
Estimated means and 95% confidence intervals for secretory phospholipase (sPLA2) enzyme activity levels as a function of age in males and females. Data for males indicated by black circles; data for females indicated by white circles. Sample sizes for each age and sex sub-group were: 3-years/24-years (males, n = 150; females, n = 82); 6-years/27-years (males, n = 137; females, n = 114); 9-years/30-years (males, n = 175; females, n = 129); 12-years/33-years (males, n = 165; females, n = 158); 15-years/36-years (males, n = 175; females, n = 156); 18-years/39-years (males, n = 160; females, n = 134).

Tracking of sPLA2 levels from youth to adulthood

Correlations between childhood and adult sPLA2 activity levels (range, males: r = 0.31-0.44; females: r = 0.25-0.58) were observed across both sexes and for all age groups (Supplemental Table 1 Appendix A Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jped.2018.01.002. ). 42.3% of males and 35.8% of females who were in the highest quarter for sPLA2 levels in childhood remained in the highest quarter in adulthood (Supplemental Table 2 Appendix A Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jped.2018.01.002. ). The proportion of participants in the lower quarter at both time-points was 41.2% for males and 48.4% for females. For the entire cohort, the rank-correlation for tracking of sPLA2 enzyme activity was r = 0.41, upper quarter tracking was 39.4%, and lower quarter tracking was 44.3%. Fig. 2 displays rank correlations and proportion remaining in the upper quarter at both time-points for each age- and sex-stratum.

Figure 2
Pearson's correlation coefficients by baseline age for tracking of secretory phospholipase (sPLA2) enzyme activity between childhood and adulthood (upper figure portion); and percent remaining in the extreme quarter of the sample distribution for sPLA2 enzyme activity between childhood and adulthood by baseline age (lower figure portion). Data for males indicated by black line and bars; data for females indicated by grey line and bars.

Factors affecting sPLA2 levels from youth to adulthood

Table 2 shows the association of changes in different lifestyle factors on the tracking of sPLA2 enzyme activity groups. Compared with those in the persistent elevated group, the resolution group had decreased their BMI relative to peers who had experienced a relative increase in BMI.

Table 2
Factors affecting tracking of secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) enzyme activity from childhood (1980) to adulthood (2001) in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Comparing incident and persistent not elevated sPLA2 enzyme activity groups, those in the incident group tended to have gained more BMI and decreased fruit consumption compared with those in the persistent not elevated group, who had maintained stable BMI and had increased fruit consumption relative to their peers. Those in the incident group were also more likely to have begun smoking since childhood (21.1% vs. 15.3%), or were a smoker at both time-points (11.9% vs. 5.0%).

Discussion

sPLA2 is a marker of vascular inflammation that might have a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Since exposure to risk factors in childhood contributes to atherosclerosis later in life, we examined the ability to predict adult sPLA2 levels from measures collected in childhood (tracking). We showed that sPLA2 enzyme activity in childhood correlates with levels measured 21 years later in adulthood and that approximately 40% of children with high levels maintain this level to adulthood. Furthermore, our findings suggest that healthy improvements in the modifiable risk factors of fruit consumption, smoking status, and BMI have the potential to decrease the development of an elevated sPLA2 level in adulthood.

As no previous studies have examined the tracking of sPLA2 levels spanning childhood to adulthood, we provide comparison with tracking of other CVD risk factors reported in earlier findings from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (Supplemental Table 3 Appendix A Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jped.2018.01.002. ).1616 Juonala M, Viikari JS, Rönnemaa T, Taittonen L, Marniemi J, Raitakari OT. Childhood C-reactive protein in predicting CRP and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:1883-8. On the basis of rank correlations, sPLA2 enzyme activity tracked similarly compared with other established risk factors (lipoproteins, BMI, systolic blood pressure). Of interest, sPLA2 enzyme activity tracked more strongly than high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP, r = 0.43 vs. r = 0.29), an inflammatory biomarker linked to atherosclerosis and CVD.66 Boekholdt SM, Keller TT, Wareham NJ, Luben R, Bingham SA, Day NE, et al. Serum levels of type II secretory phospholipase A2 and the risk of future coronary artery disease in apparently healthy men and women: the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005;25:839-46.,1616 Juonala M, Viikari JS, Rönnemaa T, Taittonen L, Marniemi J, Raitakari OT. Childhood C-reactive protein in predicting CRP and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:1883-8.,2020 Mattsson N, Magnussen CG, Rönnemaa T, Mallat Z, Benessiano J, Jula A, et al. Metabolic syndrome and carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: roles of apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A-I, C-reactive protein, and secretory phospholipase A2: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2010;30:1861-6. Previously, we have found child lipoproteins, blood pressure, and BMI to predict adult carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), an established preclinical marker of atherosclerosis, independent of adult levels of the same risk factors.2626 Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Kähönen M, Taittonen L, Laitinen T, Mäki-Torkko N, et al. Cardiovascular risk factors in childhood and carotid artery intima-media thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. JAMA. 2003;290:2277-83. However, child hsCRP was not associated with adult cIMT.1616 Juonala M, Viikari JS, Rönnemaa T, Taittonen L, Marniemi J, Raitakari OT. Childhood C-reactive protein in predicting CRP and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:1883-8. Should a causal role of sPLA2 in preclinical atherosclerosis be confirmed, and if sPLA2 enzyme activity tracks as our data suggest, future studies could examine the utility of child sPLA2 enzyme activity levels to predict adult markers of atherosclerosis independent of other risk factors.

In the absence of support from clinical trials spanning multiple decades, our data also suggest positive changes made to lifestyle-related risk factors in the time between childhood and adulthood might help individuals to improve or maintain their sPLA2 enzyme activity trajectories. These data align with studies that have assessed the influence of lifestyle-related variables on tracking of other cardiovascular risk factors2323 Magnussen CG, Thomson R, Cleland VJ, Ukoumunne OC, Dwyer T, Venn A. Factors affecting the stability of blood lipid and lipoprotein levels from youth to adulthood. Arch Paediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165:9.,2424 Kelly RK, Thomson R, Smith KJ, Dwyer T, Venn A, Magnussen CG. Factors Affecting tracking of blood pressure from childhood to adulthood: The Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study. J Pediatr. 2015;167, 1422-1428.e2. and cross-sectional observations in adults that suggested lifestyle factors (not smoking, healthy BMI, higher alcohol and protein intake) were associated with lower lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 levels, a family member of sPLA2 purported to have similar pro-atherosclerotic actions.2727 Hatoum IJ, Nelson JJ, Cook NR, Hu FB, Rimm EB. Dietary, lifestyle, and clinical predictors of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 activity in individuals without coronary artery disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91:786-93. Our data reinforce these previous findings by suggesting therapeutic lifestyle guidelines promoted in primary and primordial prevention guidelines for traditional risk factors have potential health benefits also for sPLA2 enzyme activity levels - which may further reduce CVD risk later in life. One potential mechanism underlying the association of healthy improvement in fruit consumption, smoking, BMI with change in sPLA2 levels may be a reduction in the production of proinflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukins that enhance synthesis and expression of sPLA2.2828 Rosenson RS, Gelb MH. Secretory phospholipase A2: a multifaceted family of proatherogenic enzymes. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2009;11:445-51.

This study had limitations. Serum samples used to assay sPLA2 levels were stored for up to 35 years with baseline and follow-up samples stored at different temperatures. It is not known how stable sPLA2 levels are under different storage temperatures or the rate of degradation over time. The difference in mean values of sPLA2 activity from 18 year olds stored since 1980 compared with those measured in 24 year olds stored since 2001 (Fig. 1) is more than might be expected by a 6-year age differential, which suggests degradation from longer storage. To mitigate this effect, and because all samples from each time-point were kept under the same conditions, our analyses examined tracking using ranks at both time-points rather than use of absolute levels. In addition, the consistent pattern in sPLA2 levels observed across birth cohorts at both time-points (Fig. 1) suggest that those with higher levels did not have greater degradation. As this is the first study to report sPLA2 enzyme activity levels in a population-based sample of children, we are unable to compare our sPLA2 enzyme activity levels with levels in children from similar studies analysed from fresh samples. Data from the self-reported questionnaires (SEP, smoking, diet, physical activity) may lead to recall bias, where participants may have failed to respond accurately. This would have likely resulted in underestimating the true effect, which may explain some instances where we observed non-significant differences between groups. Loss to follow-up from the original cohort is an unavoidable problem in any study conducted over an extended period of time. However, retention of participants is high in this cohort compared with similar studies.2929 Dwyer T, Sun C, Magnussen CG, Raitakari OT, Schork NJ, Venn A, et al. Cohort Profile: the international childhood cardiovascular cohort (i3C) consortium. Int J Epidemiol. 2013;42:86-96.,3030 Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Rönnemaa T, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Räsänen L, Pietikäinen M, et al. Cohort profile: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37:1220-6. Because participants who remained in the study were more likely to be older and female, but otherwise similar in respect to other baseline variables,3030 Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Rönnemaa T, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Räsänen L, Pietikäinen M, et al. Cohort profile: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37:1220-6. we believe bias owing to differential loss to follow-up to be limited. A further limitation is that data on sPLA2 levels were only available at two time-points and we cannot determine when changes in sPLA2 levels occurred, nor identify those who underwent multiple changes during the 21-year period. Finally, because the cohort is racially homogenous, these findings can only be generalised to Caucasians in Europe.

This study had several strengths. Due to the storage of samples since childhood, we were able to provide the presented data long before contemporary cohorts could examine similar aims. The large sample size, long duration of follow-up, with participants of different social backgrounds and who are well phenotyped allows our findings to be generalised at a population level and to infer long-term estimates of effect.3030 Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Rönnemaa T, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Räsänen L, Pietikäinen M, et al. Cohort profile: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37:1220-6.

Our findings show that childhood elevations in sPLA2 levels associate with elevated sPLA2 levels in adulthood. Further, our data suggest that intervention and prevention programmes that aim to improve conventional modifiable risk factors for CVD by advocating for not smoking, higher fruit consumption, and reduced excess adiposity in the time between childhood and adulthood might influence whether individuals maintain, develop, or resolve elevated child sPLA2 levels.

  • Please cite this article as: Chung O, Juonala M, Mallat Z, Hutri-Kähönen N, Viikari JS, Raitakari OT, et al. Tracking of secretory phospholipase A2 enzyme activity levels from childhood to adulthood: a 21-year cohort. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2019;95:247-54.
  • Funding
    The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study was financially supported by the Academy of Finland (grants 117787, 121584, 126925, 124282, 129378, 41071), the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the Turku University Foundation, Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospital Medical Funds, Special Federal Grants for University Hospitals, the Juho Vainio Foundation, Paavo Nurmi Foundation, the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research, Orion-Farmos Research Foundation, Turku University Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease. CGM is supported by a National Heart Foundation of Australia Future Leader Fellowship (100849).

Appendix A Supplementary data

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jped.2018.01.002.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    11 Apr 2019
  • Date of issue
    Mar-Apr 2019

History

  • Received
    7 Dec 2017
  • Accepted
    15 Jan 2018
  • Published
    21 Feb 2018
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