The blood vessels of obese children beget stiffness normally seen in much older adults with cardiovascular infection, Dr. Kevin Harris today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted sooner than the Canadian Cardiovascular Mankind and the Will and Stroke Foundation. The clock is ticking and the shape of the 13 year-old-heart is changing - for the worse.
"We were surprised to win that these obese children already get fatiguing blood vessels," says Dr. Harris from B.C. Children's Hospital. "Aortic stiffness is an early pointer of cardiovascular affliction in obese children." He says it is as if the aging development has been accelerated in their aorta.
The aorta is the largest artery in the human body. It carries and distributes oxygen-rich blood to all the other arteries and normally acts as a buffer to the pumping action of the heart. Increased stiffness of the aorta is typically associated with aging and is a strong predictor of approaching cardiac events and mortality in adults.