Familial Mediterranean fever and atherosclerosis in childhood and adolescence

Familial Mediterranean fever is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by periodic and self-limited episodes of fever and aseptic polyserositis. Although colchicine treatment has altered the course of the disease, it is believed that subclinical inflammation is still present, leading to endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis in the course of time. In this review, following the published recommendations, we queried online databases such as MEDLINE Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of science for peer-reviewed studies and reviews written in English language, using the following keywords: familial Mediterranean fever, children, endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease. The objective of this review is to highlight the correlation between familial Mediterranean fever and atherosclerosis, and moreover to describe new serum inflammatory markers and non-invasive methods of endothelial dysfunction, to detect the atherosclerosis process early starting from childhood.