Prevention of atherosclerosis in children

Abstract

Atherosclerotic lesions start to develop in a very early childhood period, as early as during pregnancy in fetuses of at-risk individuals. The risk has been reported to be increased particularly in the fetuses of mothers with elevated cholesterol levels, and in smoking mothers. As a result, primary prevention in children with risk factors should be initiated in childhood at latest. In the current guidelines for primary prevention in children, particular attention should be given to serum lipid levels, obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking, blood pressure control, dietary salt intake, and exercise. The health status of Czech children is fairly poor and efforts at prevention and modification of major risk factors for atherosclerosis in children should be more aggressive than has been the case to date.