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Statin Therapy May Reduce Progression of Heart
Disease in Children and Teens With High Cholesterol
Before your child's birth, maybe you dreamed of
passing on your love of sports or the red hair that runs in your mother's family
- but you probably didn't hope to pass on your high cholesterol.
Children and teens whose parents have high cholesterol can inherit a higher risk
of developing thickened arteries and eventually heart disease. Statin therapy -
treatment with a type of cholesterol-lowering drug - has proven effective in
reducing cholesterol levels in adults, but does it work in kids and
teens?
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and
the University of Rotterdam, both in the Netherlands, studied the effectiveness
of statin therapy in a group of 214 8- to 18-year-olds who had high cholesterol.
All of the children in the study had a parent with high cholesterol, had eaten a
fat-restricted diet for the previous 3 months, and were exercising regularly.
Half of the children were randomly assigned to take a statin drug daily; the
rest of the children took a placebo (inactive drug) that looked similar to the
statin drug. The children recorded their food intake and physical activity
levels and underwent checkups every 6 months during the 2-year study. The
children also regularly had blood studies monitored and imaging tests done to
check for changes in their hearts and cardiovascular systems.
The imaging studies showed that children who took
the statin drugs tended to have reductions in the thickness of the arteries in
the heart (thickened arteries are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease) -
whereas children who took the placebo drug tended to have artery thickening as
the study progressed. In addition, the statin drugs significantly reduced the
children's levels of LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol), compared to those
children treated with the placebos.
What This Means to You: Statin
therapy proved safe and effective in this short-term study of a group of Dutch
children and teens with inherited high cholesterol, however, the researchers of
this study point out that more research into statin therapy for kids and teens
is needed. Eating a healthy diet that's low in fat, getting plenty of physical
activity, and maintaining a healthy weight are the mainstays for maintaining
heart health in both kids and adults. If your family has a history of high
cholesterol, talk to your child's doctor about whether your child should be
tested for the condition.
Source: Albert Wiegman, MD, PhD; Barbara A. Hutten,
PhD; Eric de Groot, MD, PhD; Jessica Rodenburg, MD; Henk D. Bakker, MD, PhD;
Harry R. Büller, MD, PhD; Eric J. G. Sijbrands, MD, PhD; John J. P. Kastelein,
MD, PhD; Journal of the American Medical Association, July 21,
2004
Reviewed by: Steven
Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: September
2004