Kids with common allergies at high heart disease risk

New York: Children with allergic disease, particularly asthma and hay fever, have twice the rate of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, setting them on course for heart disease at early age, finds a new study.

Children with allergic disease had a much higher risk for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. "This study shows that cardiovascular risk starts far earlier in life than we ever realised," said lead study author Jonathan Silverberg from Northwestern University in the US.

"Given how common these allergic diseases are in childhood, it suggests we need to screen these children more aggressively to make sure we are not missing high cholesterol and high blood pressure," Silverberg added.

Asthma, hay fever and eczema increasingly common in children are associated with chronic inflammation, impaired physical activity, sleep disturbance and significant morbidity. But little has been known about the cardiovascular risk factors in children with these diseases so far.