Sex differences in measures of cardiovascular health in adults are well documented. However, the sex-specific aetiology of cardiovascular health across childhood and adolescence is poorly understood.
We examined sex differences in trajectories of 11 measures of cardiovascular health from birth to 18 years, in a contemporary birth cohort study in England (N participants per outcomes: 662-13,985, N repeated measures per outcome: 1,831-112,768). Outcomes were measured over varying time spans from birth or mid-childhood to age 18 and with different numbers of repeated measures per outcome. Analyses were performed using fractional polynomial and linear spline multilevel models.
Females had higher mean BMI, height-adjusted fat mass, pulse rate, insulin, triglycerides, and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and lower mean height-adjusted lean mass from birth or from mid-childhood to age 18. For example, mean non-HDL-c was 0.07żmmol/l (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.04, 0.10) higher in females compared with males at birth. By age 18, this difference persisted and widened to 0.19żmmol/l (95% CI, 0.16, 0.23) higher non-HDL-c in females compared with males. Females had lower levels of glucose from mid-childhood and developed lower systolic blood pressure and higher HDL-c from mid-adolescence onward. For example, females had 0.08żmmol/l (95% CI, 0.05, 0.10) lower mean glucose compared with males at age seven which widened to a difference of 0.22żmmol/l (95% CI, 0.25, 0.19) at age 18.
Sex differences in measures of cardiovascular health are apparent from birth or mid-childhood and change during early life. These differences may have implications for sex-specific disease risk in future adult populations.