Since overweight adolescents are prone to obesity in adulthood, a condition associated with several risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD), the high prevalence of adolescent overweight might be expected to increase future rates of CHD in adults. For that reason, the authors of this paper estimated the prevalence of obese 35-year-olds in 2020 based on adolescent overweight numbers in 2000 and evaluated the potential impact of adolescent overweight on the development of adult CHD. The authors further examined whether the expected increase in the number of CHD events might be reversed by treating modifiable obesity-related CHD risk factors. The results suggest that the current epidemic of overweight in adolescents will substantially increase rates of CHD in future young and middle-aged adults. In addition, in view of current therapies, the authors estimated that aggressive treatment of hypertension and dyslipidemia will reduce the risk of obesity-related CHD but not eliminate the expected increase in the number of CHD events. The authors conclude that reducing overweight among adolescents may be one of the interventions that will be highly beneficial in adulthood.
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