Dyslipidemia in pediatric population. Relevance of early diagnosis and treatment

Abstract

Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for aterosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis onset can occur early during pediatric age and be present with clinical manifestations in the adulthood.
Prevention through health promotion and risk factors control should start early in a process lead by the pediatrician.
The obesity epidemic is one of the causes of blood lipids alterations in this population. Severe dyslipidemias lead to genetic disorders screening and family hypercholesterolemia is the most common. Early diagnosis of this disorder is specially relevant for cardiovascular disease prevention and family diagnosis.
Joint work with adult physicians is essential for the referral of parents of diagnosed children and offsprings of diagnosed adults.
From pediatrics we must accompany the development of dyslipidemia control programs created by different institutions.New recommendations have been made by international scientific societies and our country needs to discuss and adapt them to our situation and needs.
This article has as main objectives to expose the importance of the knowledge of this pathology in children, its characteristics and management in order to preserve children`s health and establish early prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults. It also aims to open up the discussion of a subject in which new guidelines are being set.