Heart Disease Showing Up at Age Three

Posted on Monday, December 3, 2007

Serious heart risk is showing up in kids as young as three, according to new research from the American Heart Association - and that makes it even more important for South Dakota parents to make sure kids get plenty of exercise and good nutrition. Dr. Theresa Stamato, a pediatric cardiologist with Sanford Children's Specialty Clinic in Sioux Falls, says the Body Mass Index, or B-M-I, is an important marker of risk - it uses height and weight measurements to determine if a child's weight falls within a healthy range. She says early changes in B-M-I can be the warning signs of cardiovascular problems.

Stamato says obesity brings with it a wide range of health problems -- and that the higher the body mass index of a child early in life, the more likely they will be obese when they get older.

Stamato says if parents want healthy children they need to be good role models by encouraging healthy eating and exercise habits. The new nationwide study is a first of its kind and was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The South Dakota Department of Health has been awarding measuring boards and scales to schools across the state in recent years as part of a statewide effort to track student height and weight to obtain a more complete picture of child obesity.