Middle-Aged Arteries Seen in Obese Children

Tuesday, at the American Heart Associations scientific  meeting in New Orleans, it was determined that young people who are obese are  at risk for heart disease, stroke and death. A new study out found that neck  arteries of obese children and teens are reflective of that of 45 year olds. In  fact, out of 70 youngsters age 10 to 18 that enrolled in the Children’s Mercy  Hospital study, more than half had a “vascular age” of 30 years older than  their actual age. This is not good news, since data shows that a quarter of  youngsters age 2 to 19 are considered obese.

This isn’t the first study to show aging arteries in  children and previous studies have reported that children with risk factors for  heart disease are exhibiting signs of hardening and narrowing of the arteries,  a condition which is usually found in adults. Researchers used ultrasound  imaging to measure the thickness of the inner walls of carotid arteries, which  supply blood to the brain. Increased carotid artery intima-media thickness,  also known as CIMT, is an indicator of a build up of fatty deposits or plaque  in the arteries that lead to the brain and heart. The average for a child is  .45 millimeters, but one 12 year-old boy had a CIMT of .54, which is equivalent  to that of a healthy 45 year-old man.

Children in the study also had levels of fat chemicals,  which are known as triglycerides that were far above the optimum levels for their  age group. Dr. Samuel S. Gidding, chief of pediatric cardiology at the Alfred  I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware noted that teens don’t  typically suffer heart attacks, but they can be at risk for early signs of  heart disease. He also commented that changing diet and increasing exercise could  slow and perhaps even stop deterioration. Either way, teens and parents need to  take a proactive approach to treating obesity in children while there is time  to reverse the process.