Plasma lipid and apolipoprotein levels in children hereditarily predisposed to coronary heart disease.

Plasma lipids and apoproteins A-I, A-II and B levels were measured in 125 children whose fathers had coronary atherosclerosis (paternal coronary heart disease group), in 172 children with blood pressure lability and in 154 children selected at random from a representative subsample (reference). The paternal coronary heart disease group had, compared with the reference group, lower levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apoprotein A-I, higher levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and apoprotein B, and also a higher ratio of apoprotein B to apoprotein A-I. The paternal coronary heart disease group subjects with blood pressure lability had the most pronounced changes in the lipoprotein spectrum, which were similar to atherogenic changes in the lipoprotein profile, characteristic of patients with coronary atherosclerosis.