Obese kids have elevated cardiovascular risk

Obese children and adolescents often have risk factors for developing Heart disease, researchers report.

"Children with obesity have high rates of (coexisting disorders) which should be identified, treated, and controlled," said Dr. Bonita Falkner from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. "Obese children should be evaluated for treatable problems."

Falkner and her colleagues evaluated blood lipids (fats like cholesterol and triglycerides) and blood pressure in 497 overweight children and teens ranging in age from 3 to 18.

More than one quarter of the children (28 percent) had pre-hypertension, the investigators report in the journal Pediatrics and 7 percent had hypertension. Rates of prehypertension and hypertension increased as the severity of obesity increased.

Regardless of blood pressure or degree of obesity, abnormal lipid levels were common among these children.

To make matters worse, levels of "good" (HDL) cholesterol were significantly lower and triglyceride levels higher among boys with prehypertension or hypertension than boys with normal blood pressure, the results indicate. Such differences were not seen in girls.

"We were surprised at the overall high prevalence of lipid abnormalities in these overweight/obese children and adolescents," Falkner said. "The gender difference became detectable in adolescence."

While it is known that Heart disease occurs more frequently and at younger ages in adult males compared to females, she explained, "these data suggest that the gender difference in risk begins in adolescence."

Falkner concluded, "Prevention of childhood obesity and weight reduction in children who are already obese are critically important."

SOURCE: Pediatrics, August 2005.