Prevalence of Dyslipidemia in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Dyslipidemia is one of the main risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases. Few data on the impacts of congenital heart diseases are available with regard to the prevalence of dyslipidemia in children. Our study evaluated the lipid profile in children with congenital heart disease at a referral center. From January 2011 to July 2012, 52 pediatric patients had their lipid, metabolic and clinical profiles traced. The mean age was 10.4 +/- 2.8 years and male/female rate of 1.38: 1. Our population had 53.8% patients with high levels of total cholesterol and 13.4% (CI 95 %, from 6.6 to 25.2%) of them also presenting LDL levels >= 130 mg/dL, which characterizes dyslipidemia. The group of dyslipidemic patients presented only two obese individuals. Our data show that the presence of congenital heart disease does not lead to higher risk associated with the prevalence of dyslipidemia. Therefore, the screening of this specific population should follow the regular pediatric guidelines, which are also independent of the nutritional status of the children tested.