Efficacy and safety of lovastatin in adolescent males with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a common disorder associated with early coronary artery disease, especially in men. The age at which drug therapy should be started is still controversial, as is the use of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins).

Objective: To assess the lipid-lowering efficacy, biochemical safety, and effect on growth and sexual development of lovastatin in adolescent boys with HeFH.

Congenital heart disease associated with sporadic Kallmann syndrome.

A 17-year-old boy with Kallmann syndrome had complex congenital heart disease that included double-outlet right ventricle, d-mal-position of the great arteries, right aortic arch, and hypoplastic main pulmonary artery. He had neurosensory hearing loss and mental retardation. The 7 previously reported patients with Kallmann syndrome and cardiac abnormalities were short with height > or = 2 standard deviations below the mean for age (5/7), lacked a family history of Kallmann syndrome (6/6), and were mentally retarded (4/4).

Doppler echocardiographic assessment of filling and emptying parameters and ambulatory blood pressure measurements in normotensives and hypertensives.

To evaluate the relationship between office and ambulatory BP measurements and filling and emptying parameters, 15 hypertensive and 15 control subjects underwent both 24 hour ambulatory BP monitoring and Doppler echocardiography. No patient received antihypertensive medication for 3-4 weeks, had echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (greater than or equal to 12 mm) or a diastolic BP greater than 100 mm Hg. The time from R wave on the electrocardiogram to onset of ejection was prolonged in hypertensives (P less than 0.

Family history of myocardial infarction and hemodynamic responses to exercise in young black boys.

The influence of family history of coronary artery disease on children's hemodynamic responses to exercise was examined with 25 black boys aged 7 to 10 years. Blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, stroke volume, and total peripheral resistance were evaluated during preexercise, peak exercise, and recovery stages. Children with a family history of CAD exhibited greater systolic blood pressure and total peripheral resistance during preexercise and peak exercise stages than did those without a family history of coronary artery disease.

Racial differences in hemodynamic responses to the cold face stimulus in children and adults.

The prevalence of essential hypertension is higher among blacks than whites. One reason for this difference may be that blacks are more reactive to stressors that produce vasoconstrictive responses. Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis, one with 10- to 14-year-old males (20 whites, 20 blacks) and one with young adult males (10 whites, 10 blacks).