Publications by authors named "Meeike Kusters"

Background: Homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH) is a rare genetic disease characterised by extremely high plasma LDL cholesterol from birth, causing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at a young age. Lipoprotein apheresis in combination with lipid-lowering drugs effectively reduce LDL cholesterol, but long-term health outcomes of such treatment are unknown. We aimed to investigate the long-term cardiovascular outcomes associated with lipoprotein apheresis initiated in childhood or adolescence.

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Introduction: In the Netherlands, bariatric surgery in adolescents is currently only allowed in the context of scientific research. Besides this, there was no clinical pathway for bariatric surgery in adolescents. In this paper, the development of a comprehensive clinical pathway for bariatric surgery in adolescents with severe obesity in the Netherlands is described.

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Article Synopsis
  • Homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia is a serious genetic disease that makes cholesterol levels super high, which can lead to heart problems very early in life.
  • It's really important to start treating it right away, but many kids still can't reach their cholesterol goals even with medicine and diet.
  • Lipoprotein apheresis is a special treatment that can reduce bad cholesterol by over 70%, and experts from around the world have created guidelines on how to use it for kids with this condition.
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Introduction: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a common genetic disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the LDL-C metabolism. Lifelong exposure to elevated LDL-C levels leads to a high risk of premature cardiovascular disease. To reduce that risk, children with HeFH should be identified and treated with lipid-lowering therapy.

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Purpose Of Review: Accommodating fetal growth and development, women undergo multiple physiological changes during pregnancy. In recent years, several studies contributed to the accumulating evidence about the impact of gestational hyperlipidemia on cardiovascular risk for mother and child. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research on lipid profile alterations during pregnancy and its associated (cardiovascular) outcomes for mother and child from a clinical perspective.

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Article Synopsis
  • Familial hypercholesterolemia is a genetic condition that causes high LDL cholesterol levels from birth, increasing the risk of heart disease.
  • Early screening and treatment in children can significantly lower the chances of developing premature cardiovascular issues.
  • Recent advancements in cholesterol-lowering therapies have made familial hypercholesterolemia manageable, with studies showing favorable outcomes and cost-effectiveness for early interventions.
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Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the most common genetically inherited disorders in the world. Children with severe heterozygous FH (HeFH), i.e.

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Homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia is a life-threatening genetic condition, which causes extremely elevated LDL-C levels and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease very early in life. It is vital to start effective lipid-lowering treatment from diagnosis onwards. Even with dietary and current multimodal pharmaceutical lipid-lowering therapies, LDL-C treatment goals cannot be achieved in many children.

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Background & Aims: The long-term outcome of paediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not been well established. Between 2008 and 2012, an unselected cohort of 133 children with severe obesity was screened for NAFLD. The aim of this study was to determine the 10-year natural history of NAFLD in this cohort.

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Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common genetic disorder of lipoprotein metabolism leading to premature atherosclerosis. From early onset, status and progression of atherosclerosis of the large peripheral arterial walls can be quantified by ultrasound intima-media thickness (IMT) measurements. Here we describe differences in IMT in treated and untreated FH patients versus unaffected controls over a broad age range.

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Familial hypercholesterolaemia is a common, dominantly inherited disease that results in high concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and in premature cardiovascular disease. To prevent cardiovascular disease and premature mortality, patients with the condition need to be identified and to start treatment early in life. In this Review, we discuss the treatment of heterozygous and homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia in children, including lifestyle modifications, current pharmacological treatment options, and promising novel lipid-lowering treatments.

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Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia is characterized by severely elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels and premature cardiovascular disease. The short-term efficacy of statin therapy in children is well established, but longer follow-up studies evaluating changes in the risk of cardiovascular disease are scarce.

Methods: We report a 20-year follow-up study of statin therapy in children.

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Background: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is an autosomal dominant disorder leading to premature atherosclerosis. Children with HeFH exhibit early signs of atherosclerosis manifested by increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). In this study, we assessed the effect of 2-year treatment with rosuvastatin on carotid IMT in children with HeFH.

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Objective: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is an autosomal dominant disorder leading to premature atherosclerosis. Guidelines recommend initiating statins early to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Studies have evaluated rosuvastatin in children aged ≥10 years, but its efficacy and safety in younger children is unknown.

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Objective: Statins are currently the preferred pharmacological therapy in children with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) with the aim to prevent premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, concerns have been raised that lowering cholesterol levels with statins could interfere with hormone production. In this study hormone concentrations were assessed in young adult FH subjects before and 10 years after the initiation of statins, and compared with their unaffected siblings.

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Objectives: To evaluate the lipid-altering efficacy and safety of ezetimibe monotherapy in young children with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) or nonfamilial hypercholesterolemia (nonFH).

Study Design: One hundred thirty-eight children 6-10 years of age with diagnosed HeFH or clinically important nonFH (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C] ≥ 160 mg/dL [4.1 mmol/L]) were enrolled into a multicenter, 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Statins are effective in preventing atherosclerosis in young adults with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), and most patients adhere well to the therapy over a decade.
  • A study surveyed 214 young adults who started statins in childhood, with a high follow-up rate of 95.8%, finding that 82.4% continued the therapy.
  • Although 19.5% experienced mild side effects, only 1.5% stopped taking the medication due to these effects, indicating good tolerability and long-term commitment to treatment.
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Aims: Homozygous autosomal dominant hypercholesterolaemia (hoADH), an orphan disease caused by mutations in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), apolipoprotein B (APOB), or proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK9), is characterized by elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and high risk for premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). The exact prevalence of molecularly defined hoADH is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and phenotypical characteristics of this disease in an open society, i.

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Background: Statin therapy is recommended for children with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), but most children do not reach treatment targets.

Objective: Here we present the design and results at baseline of the ongoing CHARON study, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of rosuvastatin.

Methods: This study comprises an international 2-year open label, titration-to-goal study in 198 children with heterozygous FH aged 6 to 18 years, with rosuvastatin in a maximum dose of 10 mg (<10 years of age) or 20 mg (older children).

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Studies in children and adults have resulted in conflicting evidence in the quest for the answer to the hypothesis that offspring from hypercholesterolemic mothers might have an increased cardiovascular risk. Previous studies might have suffered from limitations such as cohort size and clinical sampling bias. We therefore explored this hypothesis in large cohorts of both subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and unaffected siblings in a wide age range.

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Statins enjoy widespread acceptance as effective drugs to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with and without cardiovascular disease, and are considered safe for long-term use. However, these compounds are contraindicated during pregnancy based on their potential teratogenic effects. Owing to the increasing number of young women eligible for statin therapy and the concern that the discontinuation of statin therapy might be harmful for both mother and child with hypercholesterolemia, gestational exposure to statins has increasingly become an issue of significant clinical importance.

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