Increased carotid intima-media thickness in children-adolescents, and young adults with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction

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 .