Gidding - Figure 6 - Risks in children
In addition to the inherent risk that is associated with elevated serum cholesterol levels,
whether genetic or not, it is also extremely important to identify dyslipidemia in those
children with other major CVD risk factors so that true risk stratification can occur. For
physicians unfamiliar with pediatric medicine, there are several high risk conditions
in children to be aware of where atherosclerosis is accelerated and the likelihood of a
cardiac event in the third or fourth decade of life exists; these include:
- diabetes, particularly type I diabetes;
- chronic kidney disease;
- Kawasaki disease with coronary aneurysms;
- heart transplant;
- children with congenital cardiac coronary artery abnormalities or that had
coronary artery surgery such as after transposition of the great vessels.
With advances in medical diagnosis and disease recognition, the list of conditions where
increased risk may occur is continually increasing to include inflammatory diseases such
as Lupus or HIV, and also patients post-chemotherapy.
Gidding S.
J Clin Lipidol.
2011; 5(6).
