The study, presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association
conference in New Orleans, found that the thickness of artery walls of
children and teenagers who are obese or have high cholesterol resembled
the thickness of artery walls of an average 45-year-old.
The
study, which has not yet been published, was small, involving 70
children ages 6 to 19, and several experts said the results would need
to be replicated to be considered conclusive. But they said the method
used to measure artery wall thickness was considered a reliable
indicator of heart disease risk, usually more reliable than cholesterol
levels or other measures. The method, which uses ultrasound,
has been applied to children in other studies in the last few years,
but experts said this appeared to be the first time that results had
been correlated to adults.
“I think this is a red flag,” said
the lead author of the study, Dr. Geetha Raghuveer, a cardiologist and
associate professor of University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. “These kids are more similar to middle-aged adults.”
From the NYT: