Arterial abnormalities in the offspring of patients with premature myocardial infarction

Background: The offspring of patients with premature coronary disease may b e at increased risk for atherosclerosis. We undertook a study to determine whether changes in brachial-artery reactivity and the thickness of the caro tid intima and media, two markers of early atherosclerosis, are present in adolescents and young adults with a parental history of premature myocardia l infarction. Methods: We enrolled 40 healthy young people whose parents had had prematur e myocardial infarction (48 percent male; mean [+/-SD] age, 19.0+/-5.2 year s) and 40 control subjects who were matched with the first group according to age and sex. All the subjects underwent high-resolution B-mode ultrasoun d examinations for the measurement of the brachial-artery vasodilatory resp onse after arterial occlusion (i.e., reactive hyperemia) and the intima-med ia thickness of the distal common carotid arteries. Results: As compared with the control subjects, the offspring of patients w ith premature myocardial infarction had lower flow-mediated reactivity of t he brachial arteries (5.7+/-5.0 percent, vs. 10.2+/-6.6 percent in the cont rol subjects; P=0.001) and greater mean intima-media thickness of the commo n carotid artery (0.49+/-0.08 mm, vs. 0.44+/-0.07 mm in the control subject s; P=0.004). In the subjects with a parental history of premature myocardia l infarction, an inverse association was found between brachial-artery reac tivity and carotid intima-media thickness (r=-0.46, P=0.003). In a conditio nal logistic-regression analysis, both brachial-artery reactivity and carot id intima-media thickness were significantly and independently correlated w ith a parental history of premature myocardial infarction. Conclusions: Structural and functional changes are present at an early age in the arteries of persons with a parental history of premature myocardial infarction. (N Engl J Med 2000;343:840-6.) (C) 2000, Massachusetts Medical Society.