Abstract
Dyslipidemia is an important etiological factor for development of cardiovascular
disease, which is the leading cause of deaths in adults. Given the growing global
epidemic of dyslipidemia, lipoprotein metabolism disorders have become an important
health problem not only in adulthood, but have also emerged as an increasingly risk
factor in childhood. Although several genome-wide association studies in multiple
large population-based cohorts of adults and meta-analyses have identified susceptibility
genes or loci, especially in lipid-related traits, it is of great importance to evaluate
genetic predisposition at an early age. Recent findings suggest that the identification
of polymorphisms in the metabolism of lipids in childhood may help fight subclinical
atherosclerosis and its progression to cardiovascular complications in adulthood.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to review genetic polymorphisms as risk factors
associated with dyslipidemia in children and adolescents.
Keywords
Dyslipidemia - childhood - polymorphism - cardiovascular risk