Methods:

Data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study were used for the present analysis. The participants were randomly selected from the national register of Finland covering the entire country. The baseline survey was conducted in 1980 among participants who were 3-18 years of age. There were 3,577 initially healthy participants in 1980. The adulthood assessment took place 27 years later in 2007, when the participants were 30-45 years old. Participants with missing data were excluded, resulting in an analytic sample of 1,089 participants. A summary measure of psychosocial factors in youth comprised socioeconomic factors, emotional factors, parental health behaviors, stressful events, self-regulation (childhood), and social adjustment (childhood). The ideal cardiovascular health index comprised seven ideal metrics measured in 2007, each contributing 1 point to the ideal cardiovascular health index score. These behaviors included body mass index, physical activity, smoking status, dietary factors, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose. There were only a few participants having an ideal level in 0 factors (n = 18) or all seven factors (n = 11); consequently, the extreme groups were combined, so that the final ideal cardiovascular health index had values of ≤1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or ≥6. Additional assessments during adulthood included whether the participant was using cholesterol-lowering medication, antihypertensive medication, or medication to lower glucose.