If you’re more optimistic or positive when you’re younger, you’re less likely to be in the high-risk category for cardiovascular disease as an adult, according to Chockalingam of clinical medicine and Srinivas of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering.
Chockalingam, a cardiologist at MU Health Care, said, “Here, we are recognizing the role of the environment and lifestyle in heart disease,” “Most heart attacks can be avoided by making some small changes to one’s daily routine at any time during one’s lifetime, according to prior research. Even though a heart attack can strike at any age, plaque buildup, or atherosclerosis, often begins much earlier in life, as early as adolescence. A healthy lifestyle becomes second nature to teens who learn about it while they’re still impressionable and are surrounded by positive role models.
Adolescents, says Chockalingam, benefit greatly from having a positive outlook on life.
Adolescents, Chockalingam said, are simultaneously learning about the world and themselves. “As a result, the resilience and outlook of children are heavily influenced by their parents and other caregivers. “Optimism is the most important legacy anyone can leave for future generations.”
Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health was analyzed by the team (Add Health). According to Chockalingam, the database was a valuable resource for their research.
At about 15 years old, “The Add Health database meticulously collected data from over 20,000 adolescents when they were about 15 years of age, and followed up every few years afterwards with repeated surveys of several hundred health aspects for the same group of children,” Chockalingam said. “Using this method, we can see how social, economic, psychological, and genetic health determinants interact over the course of one’s lifetime.”
The findings of both researchers are based on personal experiences that have influenced their findings. Throughout his childhood in India, Srinivas played tennis competitively until the age of 18, which he attributes to a life and career advocating for a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally.
His enthusiasm for the subject, coupled with his desire to keep playing tennis, led to a chance research collaboration with Chockalingam. A casual game of tennis between Srinivas and Chockalingam, two working professionals, evolved into discussions about their shared interests in medical research. The two eventually began working on research projects together and their skills complement one another — Srinivas focuses on data analytics and industrial engineering tools to improve both the patient and health care provider experience; Chockalingam provides clinical insights and a health care provider perspective. They have a great working relationship.
By integrating problem-solving techniques currently used by industrial engineers that emphasize prevention and early detection, this study could help clinicians develop a personalized approach to lowering someone’s CVD risk, says Srinivas..
According to Srinivas, an industrial engineer who also holds a joint appointment at the Trulaske College of Business, “There are several step-by-step techniques established by industrial engineers that help with early detection of problems in the manufacturing and service industries,” “Adolescence is a great time to adapt some of these techniques so that doctors can monitor the well-being of adolescents over time, since that’s the formative stage where your outlook on life is established, and it doesn’t change much after that. “
Srinivas admits that this study is only a first step in establishing the link between adolescent well-being and cardiovascular disease risk. To overcome a limitation in this study, which was only a snapshot of someone’s life at the ages of adolescence and young adulthood, he believes additional analysis of other data sets is necessary. A deeper understanding of how people are doing between these stages of life, according to him, is required.
When Srinivas has more time, he plans to experiment with machine learning and other industrial engineering and data analytics techniques.
These techniques can be used to predict long-term risk for CVD among adolescents, and uncover the impact that underlying factors, such as the influence of one’s well-being, have on a person’s chance to develop CVD,” said Srinivas.
An article in Benchmarking: An International Journal examined the link between adolescent mental health and later-life cardiovascular disease risk. Additionally, Stanford University student Kavin Anand was involved in this project.