A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that kids who are obese or who are at risk for obesity show early signs of heart disease, similar to obese adults with heart disease.
People who are overweight during childhood also have an increased risk of obesity in adulthood and are at greater risk for complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, because obesity increases total blood volume, which leads to extra stress on the heart.
"Based on this study, these subtle markers can help us predict who could be at risk for heart disease and heart attacks," said Angela Sharkey, M.D., associate professor of paediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and a paediatric cardiologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
For the study, Sharkey and Steven M. Lorch, M.D., a former fellow at the School of Medicine now at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, analyzed data from 168 children ages 10 to 18 who had been referred to them for cardiac ultrasound with symptoms including heart murmur, chest pain, acid reflux or high blood cholesterol.
Based on Centres for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for body mass index for age (BMIA), 33 patients were found to have a BMIA as obese, or the 95th percentile or above for their age; 20 had a BMIA that classified them as at risk for obesity, or between the 85th and 94th percentile; and 115 were considered normal, or below the 85th