Atherosclerosis from the fetus to the adult

Abstract

There is evidence that precursor cell changes in arterial walls occur in all children after the age of one year. Additionally, approximately a quarter of young people aged between 15 and 20 years are affected by non-obstructive and silent plaques. 5,6,7 In the course of the last hundred years, cardiovascular diseases and atheromatous lesions of the coronary arteries, aorta, brain, and others have become the main public health problem throughout the world. Myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accidents have been the leading cause of mortality in Western countries, as well as in our country, for many years. 8 There are several theories that try to explain the origin of this disease, among them we can cite Virchow's insudation hypothesis, Rokitansky's theory of small thrombi incrustation and the response to injury, in recent years it has also been associated with infection. Especially herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, mycoplasma pneumoniae, helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia pneumoniae. However, its origin has not yet been clearly established. 9,10 Cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of general mortality in Chile according to the INE with 27.1% in 2016. Government agencies dedicated to health continue to indicate that, despite all the advances in the different disciplines, atherosclerosis, through its classic symptomatic expressions, continues to be the leading cause of death for humanity. Enos et al.,11 in the 1950s found lesions in the coronaries of young American soldiers killed in the Korean War. 11 Schwartz, in 1967, found fatty streaks in the aorta in 43% of infants under one year of age and in almost all those over the first year of life.