Does maternal or paternal heredity affect carotid atherosclerosis in children with familial hypercholesterolaemia?

Maternal hypercholesterolaemia has recently been shown to increase the numb er of fatty streaks in the foetal aorta, as well as subsequent progression of fatty streaks to more advanced lesions. We compared carotid intima-media thickness by B-mode ultrasonography in children who inherited familial hyp ercholesterolaemia from their mothers or fathers, hypothesizing that childr en whose mothers were hypercholesterolaemic during pregnancy had increased atherogenesis compared with children whose mothers did not have familial hy percholesterolaemia. We found that carotid intima-media thickness and prevalence of plaque did n ot differ between children with familial hypercholesterolaemia who inherite d FH maternally or paternally.