CMR

New York - A new American study shows that obese children have arteries as thick as a man in his mid 40’s.

Scientists at the Children’s Mercy Hospital n in Kansas City have examined the state of the arteries of 70 children aged between 6 and 19 who were mainly an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. Either because they were obese or because they had high cholesterol or a family history of cardiovascular events.

With the help of ultrasound, the researchers scanned and measured the thickness of the inner walls of the arteries of children. Researchers found that approximately 75% of children have the arteries of a man 45 years old, says Professor Geetha Raghuveer, cardiologist at Mercy Hospital for Children in Kansas City and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Missouri.

“Vascular age is advanced in children with risk factors such as obesity and dyslipidemia,” Raghuveer said in a statement.

“These findings are potentially consistent with predictions that obesity and its complications would result in cardiovascular disease becoming a pediatric illness,” said Dr. David Ludwig, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard, who was the author of a previous study which suggested obesity could reduce a child’s lifespan by 2-5 years.

The thickness of participants carotid — artery that supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood — had an average of 0.45 mm with a maximum of 0.75 mm.

Further studies are needed to determine whether the accumulation of arterial plaque could be reversed if these children lose weight, doing exercise or were treated with an anti-cholesterol, suggested researchers.

Other risk factors for accumulation of plaques in the arteries in children and adolescents are hypertension, smoking and passive resistance to insulin, common in the obese.

The study was presented Wednesday at a conference held by the AAmerican Heart Association