1. Influence of maternal hypercholesterolaemia during pregnancy on progression of early atherosclerotic lesions in childhood: Fate of Early Lesions in Children (FELIC) study
- Author
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Napoli, Claudio, Glass, Christopher K, Witztum, Joseph L, Deutsch, Reena, D'Armiento, Francesco P, and Palinski, Wulf
- Subjects
Reproductive Medicine ,Biomedical and Clinical Sciences ,Pediatric ,Atherosclerosis ,Prevention ,Cardiovascular ,2.1 Biological and endogenous factors ,Aetiology ,Reproductive health and childbirth ,Adolescent ,Adult ,Aorta ,Abdominal ,Aorta ,Thoracic ,Arteriosclerosis ,Child ,Child ,Preschool ,Disease Progression ,Disease Susceptibility ,Female ,Humans ,Hypercholesterolemia ,Image Processing ,Computer-Assisted ,Infant ,Male ,Maternal-Fetal Exchange ,Pregnancy ,Pregnancy Complications ,Risk Factors ,Medical and Health Sciences ,General & Internal Medicine ,Biomedical and clinical sciences ,Health sciences - Abstract
BackgroundChildren generally have low cholesterol and no clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis, but fatty-streak formation begins in fetuses and is greatly increased by maternal hypercholesterolaemia during pregnancy. In the FELIC study we assessed the evolution of such lesions during childhood.MethodsComputer-assisted imaging was used to measure the area of the largest individual lesion and the cumulative lesion area per section in serial cross-sections through the entire aortic arch and abdominal aorta of 156 normocholesterolaemic children aged 1-13 years, who died of trauma and other causes. Children were classified by whether their mother had been normocholesterolaemic (n=97) or hypercholesterolaemic (n=59) during pregnancy. Atherosclerosis was correlated with 13 established or potential risk factors. Findings The largest fatty streaks in the aortic arch of children younger than 3 years of hypercholesterolaemic mothers were 64% smaller than those previously found in corresponding fetuses (p
- Published
- 1999