Grant: Project Grant

Risk factors that affect adult onset disease often begin in adolescence, making it important to identify these factors earlier rather than later in life. We will use data from an existing cohort of children with traits followed from age 12 to age 30 to identify young persons who develop elevated blood pressure (BP), examine how obesity and genetic factors interact to affect BP, and assess if and how the timing of lifestyle-related risk factors including diet, physical activity, and obesity in the life course affect the development of elevated BP. This knowledge will lead to more accurate assessment of an individual's risk and allow practitioners to target and tailor interventions such as weight reduction, improved diet and increased physical activity, to those who will benefit most at time periods in the life course when intervention will be most effective.