Atherosclerosis risk factors in children and adolescents with or without family history of premature coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND Although coronary artery disease (CAD) becomes symptomatic much later in life, the early identification and modification of risk factors may reduce its later incidence. MATERIAL/METHODS 100 subjects 2-18 years old, evenly divided by sex, were randomly selected from among children of patients suffering from premature myocardial infarction (<55 years); the controls were 100 age- and sex-matched subjects without a similar family history. In the Pediatric Preventive Cardiology Clinic at the Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, the subjects completed a special questionnaire consisting of anthropometric data, blood pressure, skinfold thickness, rate of physical activity, and active or passive cigarette smoking. Fasting venous blood was analyzed for serum lipids, lipoproteins fibrinogen, and apolipoproteins A1 and B100. The data were analyzed with SPSS V6/win using the independent t-test, Kruskal-Wallis, chi-squared, and standard linear multiple regression tests. RESULTS The data showed higher prevalence of some major and new risk factors in the experimental group than in the controls. The mean total cholesterol, LDL-C, TG, fibrinogen and Apo B100 were significantly higher in the experimental group, while the mean values of HDL-C and Apo A1 were significantly lower. The differences in terms of Body Mass Index, percentage body fat, rate of regular physical activity, and active and passive smoking were not significant between groups. CONCLUSIONS Major and new CAD risk factors should be identified and modified as early as possible in children with high family risk by screening and health education at an early age.