Clustering of risk factors and social class in childhood and adulthood in British women's heart and health study: cross sectional analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To examine co-occurrence and clustering of risk factors used in the Framingham equation by social class in childhood and adult life.

DESIGN

Cross sectional study.

SETTING

23 towns across England, Wales, and Scotland.

PARTICIPANTS

2936 women aged 60-79 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Prevalence of risk factors (hypertension, obesity, smoking, left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiography, diabetes, and low concentration of high density cholesterol); ratios of observed to expected frequencies of clusters of risk factors.

RESULTS

Risk factors were more common in women from manual social classes in either childhood or adult life, and the co-occurrence of three or four of these risk factors was greater among more disadvantaged groups. Within the four socioeconomic groups, these risk factors occurred together more than would be expected from their individual frequency distributions, indicating that they were clustered. The extent of this clustering was similar in all four social class groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Clustering of risk factors included in the Framingham risk function occurs in all social class groups, but the lack of social patterning makes it unlikely that clustering is an explanation of socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular disease. As the proportion of women with co-occurrence of risk factors is greatest in those from manual social class in childhood, this measure of socioeconomic position might prove useful in risk prediction.