Behavioral coronary risk indicators and apolipoproteins A-I and B in young Finnish children: cross-sectional and predictive associations.

The association between behavioral and somatic coronary risk indicators was studied in 3-, and 6-, and 9-year-old children (n = 668). The behavioral risk indicators used were the Type A behavior pattern, hyperactivity, social maladjustment, and life dissatisfactions of the mother. The somatic risk indicators adopted were serum concentrations of apolipoproteins B and A-I. The results might indicate that behavioral and somatic coronary risk indicators are not independent, but could share a common basis, or pathways that are related to the pathogenesis of CHD. In addition, a sex-related difference was discovered: variables associated with the high somatic risk level among girls were hyperactivity, social maladjustment, and impatience, and among boys the variables were the mother's dissatisfaction with herself as a mother, leadership, and a tendency for competitiveness-aggression.