Oxidative stress and cardiovascular risk and prevention in children and adolescents

Abstract

The process of atherosclerosis may begin early in lifetime and develop for decades, until leading to manifest cardiovascular disease (CVD). Efforts for early identification and management of predisposing factors for CVD for primordial and primary prevention, sustaining the “ideal cardiovascular health”, must start early in life. Oxidative stress is among the first signs of endothelial activation and cardiometabolic alterations, and might serve in future as an early tool to predict risk of developing cardiometabolic and lifestyle-related diseases in childhood and adolescence and later in adulthood. This review aims to discuss available data on all these aspects, with particular emphasis on the relationship between cardiometabolic risk and oxidative stress in children and adolescents.