A study from the University of Gothenburg suggests that being overweight in childhood and early adulthood increases risk factors for blood clots later in life. The study is based on the initial BMI history of more than 37,000 men and information about their thrombi, if any, in adulthood. The link between obesity and blood clots has already been established. However, to date, it has been unclear to what extent an increased BMI in childhood and adolescence is affected. The aim of the study was to clarify the relationship between BMI in early life and subsequent thrombi.
Thrombi usually originate in the legs, most often starting in a blood vessel in the calf. Swelling, pain and redness are common symptoms. Treated early, clots are rarely dangerous. However, if one breaks loose, builds up in the bloodstream into the lungs, and adheres to the vessel wall there, the resulting “pulmonary embolism” can be life-threatening.
The current study included 37,672 men in Sweden who were born between 1945 and 1961. It is based on information about height, weight and BMI from men’s records, first in the school health care services (at age 8) and second, from medical examinations upon enrollment in the armed services (at age 20), on average With register data on any blood clots up to age 62.
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markedly elevated thrombus risk
It emerged from the results, now published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, that BMI at both ages 8 and 20 may be associated with venous blood clots, independently of each other. These can occur, for example, in the legs (deep vein thrombosis, DVT) or the lungs (pulmonary embolism). In adulthood, two groups were found to be at significantly increased risk of venous thrombi. The first was individuals who were overweight as children and young adults, while the second was composed of individuals who were of normal weight in childhood and who became overweight in early adulthood.
In addition, being overweight in both childhood and adolescence was associated with an increased risk of arterial thrombi — that is, clots resulting from blood vessels narrowed with fatty deposits and inflammation. Because there were few cases of arterial blood clots in the study, however, further studies are needed to confirm these findings. All comparisons in the study were made with a control group, whose weight was normal at both age 8 and 20.
Overweight in puberty an important factor
The study’s first and corresponding author is Lena Lilja, a doctoral student and pediatrician at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. At the time of study, he worked at the Kungshojd Pediatric Clinic in Gothenburg. Today, she is a senior physician in child health care in Region Vastra Götaland. “Our study shows that being overweight in childhood and being overweight in young adulthood increase the risk of venous blood clots later in life. The latter, being overweight when men were young adults, is more likely than overweight proved to be an influential factor when they were children,” notes Lilja.
Professor and Senior Physician Claes Ohlsson and Associate Professor and Senior Physician Jenny Kindblom, both at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital at the University of Gothenburg, were the study’s senior authors.
“Obesity and overweight during puberty have a significant impact on a person’s future risks of venous thrombi,” Kindblom concludes. The study included data from the BMI Epidemiology Study (BEST) in Gothenburg, population studies and Swedish national registers.