Child Obesity Researchers Report Early Signs of Heart Disease in Children

According to news sources, scientists attending the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans released the results of several studies including one showing that the artery walls of children who are obese or have high cholesterol are as thick as those of adults who are 30 years older. Led by Geetha Raghuveer, a cardiologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, this small study of 70 children used ultrasound to measure artery wall thickness. While no one apparently knows how
thick a 10-year-old’s blood vessels should be, the researchers reportedly used tables for 45-year-olds and found the thickness comparable.

Other research presented during the conference showed that 991 obese Australian children had a greater enlargement of their hearts and that 150 Australian children with a higher body-mass index had left ventricles that were slower to untwist in the heart pumping process, thus impairing the heart’s ability to relax between beats. A Harvard pediatrics professor reportedly said that such findings “are potentially consistent with predictions that obesity and its complications would result in cardiovascular disease becoming a pediatric illness.” Other medical specialists expressed concerns about “raising a generation of children that are going to have a significant increase in vascular disease as they get older.” See The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 12, 2008.