Copyright © 2002 by the European Society of Cardiology.
Increased carotid intima–media thickness in children–adolescents, and young adults with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction
a Cardiology Division, A. Cardarelli Hospital, Naples, Italy
b Cardiology Division, Clinica Villa dei Fiori, Acerra, Naples, Italy
c Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Federico II University, Naples, Italy
d Clinical Analysis Laboratory, A. Cardarelli Hospital, Naples, Italy
e Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, U.S.A.
f Division of Vascular Ultrasound Research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, U.S.A.
revised November 27, 2001; accepted November 28, 2001
Abstract
Aims The present study was designed to test whether early carotid structural changes are demonstrable (by high resolution B-mode ultrasound) in children, adolescents and young adults with a history of premature parental myocardial infarction.
Methods and Results One hundred and fourteen healthy young (5 to 30 years) subjects with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction and 114 age- and sex-matched control subjects were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two age groups: children and adolescents (age 5 to 18 years) (54 individuals with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction and their control subjects; mean age 12·8±3·8 years) and young adults (age 19 to 30 years) (60 individuals with a parental history and their controls; mean age 23·8±3·3 years). All subjects underwent high resolution B-mode ultrasonographic evaluation of common carotid artery intima–media thickness. Lipid profile, resting blood pressure, body mass index and smoking status were also evaluated. In both age groups, compared to controls, subjects with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction had increased intima–media thickness of common carotid arteries (mean of combined sites: age 5–18 years: 0·45±0·076mm vs 0·40±0·066mm in controls, P=0·008; age 19–30 years: 0·48±0·077mm vs 0·45±0·078mm in controls,P =0·007) Offspring of coronary patients showed an unfavourable lipid profile, however, the association between a parental history of premature myocardial infarction and carotid intima–media thickness was independent of lipids, apolipoproteins and other traditional risk factors.
Conclusions Vascular structural changes associated with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction are already detectable in childhood and adolescence and occur independently of several traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Copyright 2002 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Key Words: Carotid arteries, risk factors, ultrasonic diagnosis, atherosclerosis, children
f1 Correspondence: Maurizio Trevisan, MD, MS, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 270 Farber Hall, Buffalo, NY 14214, U.S.A.
References
- Myers RH, Kiely DK, Cupples LA, Kannel WB. Parental history is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease: The Framingham Study. Am Heart J. 1990;120:963–969[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
- Jousilahti P, Puska P, Vartiainen E, Pekkanen J, Tuomilehto J. Parental history of premature coronary heart disease: an independent risk factor of myocardial infarction. J Clin Epidemiol. 1996;49:497–503[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
- Kaprio J, Norio R, Pesonen E, Sarna S. Intimal thickening of the coronary arteries in infants in relation to family history of coronary artery disease. Circulation. 1993;87:1960–1968
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Celermajer DS, Sorensen KE, Bull C, Robinson J, Deanfield JE. Endothelium-dependent dilation in the systemic arteries of asymptomatic subjects relates to coronary risk factors and their interaction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1994;24:1468–1474[Abstract]
- Clarkson P, Celermajer DS, Powe AJ, Donald AE, Henry RMA, Deanfield JE. Endothelium-dependent dilatation is impaired in young healthy subjects with a family history of premature coronary disease. Circulation. 1997;96:3378–3383
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Zureik M, Touboul PJ, Bonithon-Kopp C, Courbon D, Ruelland I, Ducimetiere P. Differential association of common carotid intima-media thickness and carotid atherosclerotic plaques with parental history of premature death from coronary heart disease. The EVA Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1999;19:366–371
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Pauciullo P, Iannuzzi A, Sartorio R. Increased intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery in hypercholesterolemic children-adolescents. Arterioscler Thromb. 1994;14:1075–1079
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Tonstad S, Joakimsen O, Stensland-Bugge E. Risk Factors related to carotid intima-media thickness and plaque in children-adolescents with familial hypercholesterolemia and control subjects. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1996;16:984–991
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Virkola K, Pesonen E, Akerblom HK, Siimes MA. Cholesterol and carotid artery wall in children-adolescents and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia: a controlled study by ultrasound. Acta Paediatr. 1997;86:1203–1207[ISI][Medline]
- Gaeta G, De Michele M, Cuomo S. Arterial abnormalities in the offspring of patients with premature myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2000;343:840–846
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Rose, GA, Blackburn, H, Gillum, RF, Prineas, RJ, Cardiovascular survey methods
- Pignoli P, Tremoli E, Poli A, Oreste P, Paoletti R. Intimal plus medial thickness of the arterial wall: a direct measurement with ultrasound imaging. Circulation. 1986;74:1399–1406
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Stary HC. Evolution and progression of atherosclerosis in coronary arteries in children-adolescents and young adults. Arteriosclerosis. 1989;99:I-19–I-32
- Newman WP III, Wattigney W, Berenson GS. Autopsy studies in United States children-adolescents and adolescents. Relationship of risk factors to atherosclerotic lesions. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1991;623:16–25[ISI][Medline]
- Strong JP. Natural history and risk factors for early human atherogenesis: pathobiological determinants of atherosclerosis in youth (PDAY) research group. Clin Chem. 1995;41:134–138
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Napoli C, D'Armiento FP, Mancini FP, Witztum JL, Palumbo J, Palinski W. Fatty streak formation occurs in human fetal aortas and is greatly enhanced by maternal hypercholesterolemia. Intimal accumulation of LDL and its oxidation precede monocyte recruitment into early atherosclerotic lesions. J Clin Invest. 1997;100:2680–2690[ISI][Medline]
- Ikary Y, McManus BM, Kenyon J, Schwartz SM. Neonatal intima formation in the human coronary artery. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1999;19:2036–2040
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - O'Leary DH, Polak JF, Kronmal RA, Manolio TA, Burke GL, Wolfson SK. Carotid-artery intima and media thickness as a risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke in older adults. Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:14–22
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Held C, Hjemdahl P, Eriksson SV, Björkander I, Forslund L, Rehnqvist N. Prognostic implication of intima-media thickness and plaques in the carotid and femoral arteries in patients with stable angina pectoris. Eur Heart J. 2001;22:62–72
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Crouse JR, Craven TE, Hagaman AP, Bond MG. Association of coronary disease with segment-specific intimal-medial thickening of the extracranial carotid artery. Circulation. 1995;92:1141–1147
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Bots MI, Hofman A, Grobbee DE. Carotid intima-media thickness and lower extremity arterial atherosclerosis. The Rotterdam Study. Arterioscler Thromb. 1994;14:1885–1891
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Freedman DS, Srinivasan SR, Shear CL, Franklin FA, Webber LS, Berenson GS. The relation of apolipoproteins A-I and B in children-adolescents to parental myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 1986;315:721–726[Abstract]
- Srinivasan SR, Dahlen GH, Jarpa RA, Webber LS, Berenson GS. Racial (black-white) differences in serum lipoprotein (a) distribution and its relation to parental myocardial infarction in children: Bogalusa Heart Study. Circulation. 1991;84:160–167
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Pajukanta P, Peltonen L. How to tackle genetic loci predisposing to atherosclerosis? Curr Opin Lipidol. 1997;8:95–100[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
- Badenhop RF, Wang XL, Wiken DEL. Angiotensin converting enzyme genotype in children and coronary events in their grandparents. Circulation. 1995;91:1655–1658
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Humphries SE, Nicaud V, Margalef J, Tiret L, Talmud PJ. Lipoprotein lipase gene variation is associated with a paternal history of premature coronary artery disease and fasting and postprandial plasma triglycerides: the European Atherosclerosis Research Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1998;18:526–534
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Folsom AR, Wu KK, Shahar E, Davis CE. Association of hemostatic variables with prevalent cardiovascular disease and asymptomatic carotid artery atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1993;13:1829–1836
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Hwang SJ, Ballantyne CM, Sharrett R. Circulating adhesion molecules VCAM-1, ICAM-1, and E-selectin in carotid atherosclerosis and incident coronary heart disease cases. Circulation. 1997;96:4219–4225
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - McQuillan BM, Beilby JP, Nidorf M, Thompson PL, Hung J. Hyperhomocysteinemia but not the C677T mutation of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase is an independent risk determinant of carotid wall thickening. The Perth Carotid Ultrasound Disease Assessment Study (CUDAS). Circulation. 1999;99:2383–2388
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  C K Chow, A C H Pell, A Walker, C O'Dowd, A F Dominiczak, and J P Pell Families of patients with premature coronary heart disease: an obvious but neglected target for primary prevention BMJ, September 8, 2007; 335(7618): 481 - 485. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Y-f Cheung, S J Wong, and M H K Ho Relationship between carotid intima-media thickness and arterial stiffness in children after Kawasaki disease Arch. Dis. Child., January 1, 2007; 92(1): 43 - 47. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Moskau, A. Golla, C. Grothe, M. Boes, C. Pohl, and T. Klockgether Heritability of Carotid Artery Atherosclerotic Lesions: An Ultrasound Study in 154 Families Stroke, January 1, 2005; 36(1): 5 - 8. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. A. Manolio, E. Boerwinkle, C. J. O'Donnell, and A. F. Wilson Genetics of Ultrasonographic Carotid Atherosclerosis Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., September 1, 2004; 24(9): 1567 - 1577. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
U. Paradossi, E. Ciofini, A. Clerico, N. Botto, A. Biagini, and M. G. Colombo Endothelial Function and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Young Healthy Subjects Among Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Glu298->Asp and T-786->C Polymorphisms Stroke, June 1, 2004; 35(6): 1305 - 1309. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. Swan and M.A. Gatzoulis Early atherosclerosis ...what does it mean? Eur. Heart J., September 1, 2002; 23(17): 1317 - 1319. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||