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Posted on Nov 16, 2003, 11 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Results of two recent studies add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that cardiovascular disease begins in childhood. The first study, by Dr Gerald S Berenson, of the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues, found that obesity and high cholesterol in children are directly related to the thickness of the lining of the carotid artery.
Results of two recent studies add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that cardiovascular disease begins in childhood. The first study, by Dr Gerald S Berenson, of the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues, found that obesity and high cholesterol in children are directly related to the thickness of the lining of the carotid artery. Thickening of the lining of an artery is a sign of the arterial disease atherosclerosis. Berenson found that the risk of arterial thickening in young adulthood is directly related to LDL, or "bad", cholesterol levels during childhood. These findings were supported by a second study, led by Dr. Olli T. Raitakari at the University of Turku in Finland. Raitakari found that blood pressure, LDL cholesterol levels, cigarette smoking and BMI in adolescence were directly related to the thickness of the carotid artery lining in adulthood. Furthermore, the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors in adolescence and the development of atherosclerosis in adulthood remained the same even when the researchers took into account the presence of risk factors in adulthood. These findings led Raitakari and his team to conclude: "These findings suggest that the prevention of atherosclerosis ... could be most effective when initiated in childhood or adolescence."
SOURCE/REFERENCE: JAMA 2003 290: 2271-2276, 2277-2283.
