HHS HealthBeat (August 06, 2007)

Kids heading for adult problems

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Metabolic syndrome – trouble with blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight. In adults, it means a higher risk of heart trouble. But researchers have found it in kids, and say it also predicts trouble.

Courtney Gray-McGuire of Case Western Reserve University says children and teens with metabolic syndrome were more likely to grow into adults with heart disease. And that also was true with parts of metabolic syndrome, such as BMI – a ratio of weight to height, which indicates whether a child is overweight:

"For every 1 percent change in BMI, we saw a 3 percent change in risk of cardiovascular disease. So it’s not just about as your BMI goes up, your risk goes up." (10 seconds)

The study in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 06 2007