Children generally have low cholesterol and no clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis, but fatty-streak formation begins in fetuses and is greatly increased by maternal hypercholesterolaemia during pregnancy. In the FELIC study we assessed the evolution of such lesions during childhood.

Computer-assisted imaging was used to measure the area of the largest individual lesion and the cumulative lesion area per section in serial cross-sections through the entire aortic arch and abdominal aorta of 156 normocholesterolaemic children aged 1–13 years, who died of trauma and other causes. Children were classified by whether their mother had been normocholesterolaemic (n=97) or hypercholesterolaemic (n=59) during pregnancy. Atherosclerosis was correlated with 13 established or potential risk factors.

The largest fatty streaks in the aortic arch of children younger than 3 years of hypercholesterolaemic mothers were 64% smaller than those previously found in corresponding fetuses (p<0·0001), which suggests that fetal fatty streaks mayregress afterbirth. In the two groups, lesion size in the aortic arch and abdominal aorta increased linearly with age (r=0·87–0·98). However, lesions progressed strikingly faster in children of hypercholesterolaemic mothers than in those of normocholesterolaemic mothers (p<0·0001). Conventional risk factors for atherosclerosis in children or mothers correlated with lesion size, but did not account for the faster progression of atherogenesis in normocholesterolaemic children of hypercholesterolaemic mothers.

Our results suggest that maternal hypercholesterolaemia during pregnancy induces changes in the fetal aorta that determine the long-term susceptibility of children to fatty-streak formation and subsequent atherosclerosis. If so, cholesterol-lowering interventions in hypercholesterolaemic mothers during pregnancy may decrease atherogenesis in children.