Can a Paternal Legacy of Heart Attacks Be Erased in Childhood?

Key Takeaway

In a Spanish study following families with inherited high cholesterol for a median of 12.4 years, children who began cholesterol-lowering medication around age 14.5 built up far less lifetime cholesterol exposure than their affected parents, who started near age 36. By age 39, only 0.3% of the treated young people had a cardiovascular event, compared with 5.2% of their parents. The findings suggest that inherited high cholesterol is best treated as a childhood condition.

A Father’s Heart Attack, a Daughter’s Head Start

Picture a 14-year-old named Lucía sitting in a pediatric lipid clinic, swinging her sneakers under the exam table. She feels perfectly fine. Her father does not. He had his first heart attack at 41, and the genetic test that followed showed he carries a mutation for familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH. Testing the rest of the family found the same mutation in Lucía.

A generation ago, Lucía would likely have been sent home with diet advice and told to come back as an adult. Today she leaves with a prescription. A major new study suggests that…