[Structure of childhood and adolescent invalidity in persons with chronic somatic diseases]. / Struktura invalidnosti detei i lits molodogo vozrasta s khronicheskimi somaticheskimi zabolevaniiami.

Based on the analysis of statistical data, prevalence is estimated of disorders with invalidism patterns outlined among those children and young adults under 40 years of age presenting with chronic somatic disorders in Kharkov. Both in children (52.4%) and in young adults (43.9%) diseases of the nervous system held the prominent place. Invalidity due to formed somatic disorders was identified in 10.9% of children and 24.3% of those persons less than 40 years old. There prevailed diseases of the circulation organs. The necessity is substantiated for the rehabilitation to be carried out of children with somatic disorders to prevent their disability.

[Dysplastic cardiopathy concurrent with the heart rhythm and conductivity disturbances in adolescents]. / Sochetanie displasticheskoi kardiopatii s narusheniiami serdechnogo ritma i provodimosti u podrostkov.

Clinical-and-hemodynamic features have been studied of dysplastic cardiopathy presenting with disturbances of the heart's rhythm and conductivity in 90 boys and girls 12-18 years old. It has been ascertained that high degree of the mitral valve prolapse, multiple abberrant chords, local hypertrophy of the left ventricle are predictors of development of arrhythmias in juveniles with dysplastic cardiopathy. The intracardiac hemodynamics has been found to be affected by "small" cardiac stigmas of dysembryogenesis. There was noted a decline in the heart's pumping and contractile functions resulting in formation of hypokinetic type hemodynamics. The findings secured attest to the need for a case follow-up of those patients who are at high risk for development of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy presenting with development of irreversible or refractory to correction complications.

[The formation of atherosclerotic prodromes in risk-group adolescents at stages in their sexual maturation]. / Formirovanie predvestnikov ateroskleroza u podrostkov grupp riska na étapakh polovogo sozrevaniia.

240 adolescents with primary arterial hypertension and 118 youngsters from families with aggravated heredity in respect of ischemic heart disease were studied for lipidic spectrum of blood, system of prostanoides and some hemodynamic indexes during the puberty stages. It has been found out that adolescents of risk groups for atherosclerosis develop metabolic disturbances presented as atherogenic dyslipoproteinemias and thrombogenic balance of prostanoides. A particular feature of the above disturbances is their apparent stability, they are responsible for structural alterations in the vascular wall presented as its thickening and loss of elasticity. This suggests that not only metabolic basis of atherosclerosis might be formed during the pubescence stages but structural one as well.

Premature coronary heart disease: the influence of positive family history on platelet activity in vivo in children and adolescents (family study).

BACKGROUND: Hypercoagulative disturbances are an integral part of atherosclerosis. The estimation of beta-thromboglobulin (BTG) concentrations in the offspring of parents suffering from premature coronary heart disease (CHD) makes it possible to evaluate platelet activity in vivo in this high-risk group. METHODS: The study included 292 individuals. BTG concentrations in platelet-poor plasma were estimated in 90 offspring (60 boys and 30 girls, aged 7-18 years) of fathers who had experienced a premature infarct (aged 45 years or younger) and in their parents (the main group, n = 185). All the participants were tested under their usual living conditions. Fifty-nine healthy children and adolescents of the same age with no family history of vascular events, diabetes or hypertension, together with their parents, formed the control group (n = 107). RESULTS: The mean BTG level in the main group was significantly elevated (86.04 +/- 8.14 ng/ml in the boys and 75.57 +/- 8.55 ng/ml in the girls), when compared with the values for their respective controls (49.30 +/- 3.54 ng/ml and 52.56 +/- 3.42 ng/ml, P < 0.001 and P < 0.005). High BTG levels (higher than the 95th percentile in the controls) were observed in 33.3 +/- 6.1% of the boys and in 23.3 +/- 7.7% of the girls in the main group. Twelve months later, a follow-up study of 16 offspring from the main group and 12 from the control group demonstrated that the increase in BTG levels in children and adolescents with infarction heredity over those observed in children without such a background was sustained (85.86 +/- 16.88 ng/ml compared with 75.90 +/- 14.02 ng/ml, P > 0.5). Significantly raised levels of BTG were also detected in the wives of men who had experienced premature infarcts, when these women were compared with respective controls (86.13 +/- 9.85 ng/ml and 45.04 +/- 4.82 ng/ml, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Spontaneous platelet activation in vivo under normal living conditions was observed in a considerable proportion of children and adolescents with a family history of premature CHD. This activation is expected to constitute an endogenous risk-factor and is probably one of the mechanisms by which atherosclerosis advances before it becomes clinically apparent.

[Adrenal hormones in the formation of atherosclerotic precursors in adolescents with primary arterial hypertension]. / Gormony nadpochechnikov v formirovanii predvestnikov ateroskleroza u podrostkov s pervichnoi arterial'noi gipertenziei.

The components of blood lipid spectrum (total cholesterol, triglycerides and high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were studied in 131 adolescents (12-18 years old) with primary arterial hypertension at various levels of adrenal hormones (hydrocortisone and aldosterone) and blood plasma renin activity. The optimal ratio of lipid components in blood was detected if concentrations of adrenal hormones and blood plasma renin activity were low. Hyperfunction of the adrenal cortex in teen-agers contributed both to the development of hypertension and to atherosclerotic changes in vessels. This suggests that definite forms of hypertension occurred in adults, with specific impairments in the metabolism of blood serum lipids, were developed during the juvenile age.

[The mechanisms of the hereditary predisposition to ischemic heart disease]. / Mekhanizmy nasledstvennoi predraspolozhennosti k ishemicheskoi bolezni serdtsa.

The hereditary predisposition of people to ischemic cardiac disease may be realized both by means of the lipid blood spectrum and through the break-down thrombosis processes. The argument mentioned is confirmed by the strong fixed correlation between patients who had infarction-myocarditis at young age and their children.

[Features of blood lipid spectrum in a schoolchildren's population in Kharkov]. / Osobennosti lipidnogo spektra krovi v populiatsii shkol'nikov Khar'kova.

The blood lipid and lipoprotein spectrum was biochemically studied in 580 pupils aged 12-16 years. The normal value ranges were found for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (T), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein in the Kharkov schoolchildren population. The upper limits of lipid lipoprotein levels enabled patients with hyperlipoproteinemias to be identified in the studied age groups. The Kharkov children were demonstrated to have high TC and T levels and relatively low HDL cholesterol, i. e. they had unfavourable characteristics as to atherogenesis. The findings suggest that the factors that influence the formation of atherogenic dyslipoproteinemias should be further studied and the preventive measures aimed at normalizing the lipid spectrum should be implemented.