Has your child recently been diagnosed with allergies? Has he or she been coughing, sneezing and wheezing all year? According to a new study, children with asthma, hay fever and eczema have about twice the rate of high blood pressure and cholesterol as those who don't have allergies. This increase puts them at greater risk for heart disease at a shockingly early age.
Researchers analyzed 13,000 children in the U.S. and asked parents questions about the children's health as part of the 2012 National Health Interview Study.
Jonathan Silverberg, associate professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, led the study and later published the results in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. This isn't the first study to indicate allergies and heart disease could be linked. Silverberg conducted a similar study on eczema earlier this year to further prove that "cardiovascular risk starts far earlier in life [in children] than we ever realized."
Silverberg went onto say that the study is vital because it shows that children who receive help earlier in life may benefit later.
"Children and teens with severe allergic disease may benefit from increased screening for high blood pressure and cholesterol," Silverberg said. Modifying lifestyle habits, such getting kids to eat healthier and do more exercise, along with ensuring better treatments of children's allergic disease, might also reduce this increased cardiovascular risk."
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