THE ROOTS OF HEART DISEASE

摘要

Most people associate the risk factors that dramatically increase the chances of having a heart attack or stroke—high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and smoking —with adulthood. Recently, however, doctors have seen an alarming number of children afflicted with "adult" health problems, including high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels. Until recently we thought that only 1 or 2 percent of children suffered from high blood pressure; new studies suggest that as many as 4 or 5 percent do. In addition, about 10 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 have elevated cholesterol levels. Children with high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure run the risk of having these levels rise even higher in adulthood, in all likelihood leading to heart disease. Being overweight is a common thread in both of these health concerns, and the evidence of the damage associated with these extra pounds continues to mount.