Estimation of the Thickness of the Intima-Media Complex in Children With Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

Objective:to evaluate the diagnostic significance of measuring the thickness of the intima-media complex (IMC) in children with autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolemia for early diagnostics and prompt treatment of atherosclerosis.Materials and methods.The study included 109 children – 64 children with familial hypercholesterolemia and 45 healthy children. Both groups were divided into 2 subgroups according to the age – from 3 to 8 years and from 9 to 18 years. We measured the intimamedia thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery in all the children. To evaluate IMT we used an ultrasound scanner HD11XE (Philips, USA) with a linear (3–12MHz) sensor IMT.Results.We found a statistically significant difference (p=0.012) of the IMT of the common carotid artery in children with familial hypercholesterolemia (0.61 ± 0.02 mm) in comparison with the control group (0.49±0.02 mm), starting from the age of 9 years. There were no sex differences of IMT in patients older than 9 years.Conclusion.We found that children with familial hypercholesterolemia have higher values of IMT already from the age of 9 as compared with healthy children; the increase in TCIM is an additional criterion for the early diagnostics of atherosclerosis and evaluation of cardiovascular risk. These results emphasize the relevance of lipid-lowering therapy for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia in childhood, before the first signs of atherosclerosis appear.