More kids are heading toward heart
trouble, the American Heart Association reported in its annual
assessment of cardiovascular disease, the top killer in the
United States.
In 2002, the latest year covered
by the AHA's annual report, 927,448 Americans died of cardiovascular
disease, which includes high blood pressure, heart attacks,
chest pains known as angina, congestive heart failure, stroke,
and congenital heart defects.
The report shows that cardiovascular
disease is actually on the decline, slightly. But for the
first time, it includes a section on youth and their risk
factors for heart disease, and that's on the rise.
About 1 million Americans between
12 and 19 years old, or about 4.2 percent, now have metabolic
syndrome, which is a host of controllable risk factors for
heart disease such as abnormal blood lipids, high blood sugar,
high blood pressure, and overweight or obesity.
The new statistics on metabolic
syndrome in youth have a "sense of urgency," according to
Dr. Robert Eckel, president-elect of the AHA and an endocrinologist
at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The
new statistics, he said, represent a reminder that we are
"looking at a future generation of heart disease patients"
if measures are not taken to stem the rising rate of risk
factors in youth.
The latest statistics reflect
good and bad news, said Dr. Christopher O'Donnell, associate
director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's
Framingham Heart Study and chairman of the AHA's statistics
committee.
"Overall, cardiovascular disease
rates are declining, slowly," he said. "What's alarming is
the rise in very young patients with metabolic syndrome. Cardiovascular
disease takes 20 to 30 years to develop."
If the trends in youth risk
factors for heart disease continue, O'Donnell said, "that
would impede our progress in lowering cardiovascular disease
rates."
O'Donnell and Eckel agreed
that parents need to pay closer attention to their children's
health to prevent them from developing metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome in adolescence
is defined as having at least three of the following abnormalities:
blood triglyceride level of 110 milligrams per deciliter or
higher, high-density lipoprotein (HDL, the "good" cholesterol)
of 40 milligrams per deciliter or lower; elevated blood sugar
of 110 milligrams per deciliter or higher; blood pressure
that is deemed high for age; and waist circumference that
is high for age and gender.
The most common risk factor
found in children with metabolic syndrome is being overweight,
according to the heart association.
"Parents ought to be speaking
with their pediatrician about their children's risk factors,
including weight and blood pressure, and their nutrition,"
O'Donnell said.
"Kids must take responsibility
for what they put into their mouths and what they do with
their feet," Eckel added. Parents should be encouraging children
to eat nutritiously and to exercise, he said.
"We'd like to see parents put
more emphasis on diet," Eckel said, which includes monitoring
fast-food intake.
They can also increase chores
around the house so children will be more active and encourage
them to take part in school programs that involve physical
activity, he added.
More
information on Child Obesity Prevention
Reference
Source 101
December 31, 2004
