Af. Sofair et al., EXERCISE STRESS-TESTING AND RISK FACTOR ASSESSMENT AMONG OFFSPRING OFCARDIAC PATIENTS, American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 77(1), 1998, pp. 55-58
As we learn more about the origins of coronary artery disease, researc
h has begun to focus on its prevention. The purpose of this study was
to determine if exercise stress testing of the offspring of our cardia
c rehabilitation patients would be a useful adjunct to their general c
ardiac risk factor assessment. In addition, we sought to quantitate th
e number of cardiac risk factors they might have already accumulated.
We determined the lifestyle and lipid profiles of 22 young, healthy su
bjects. Subjects underwent maximal multistage exercise stress tests. E
ighty-six percent of subjects had two or more major risk factors for C
AD, and 73% had contributory risk factors. Seventy-three percent of su
bjects also demonstrated hypercholesterolemia. Exercise testing did no
t induce ischemic changes on electrocardiography of any subject. Our r
esearch revealed that these offspring demonstrate an alarming number o
f coronary artery disease risk factors, even though exercise stress te
sts were negative.