The blood vessels of pot-bellied children take stiffness normally seen in much older adults with cardiovascular disease, Dr. Kevin Harris today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Guts and Apoplexy Foundation. The clock is ticking and the condition of the 13 year-old-heart is changing - for the worse.
"We were surprised to determine that these abdominous children already set up resolute blood vessels," says Dr. Harris from B.C. Children's Hospital. "Aortic stiffness is an early with of cardiovascular disease in portly children." He says it is as if the aging alter has been accelerated in their aorta.
The aorta is the largest artery in the merciful 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 burly predictor of approaching cardiac events and mortality in adults.