Blood rheology and fibrinogen in children with familial hypercholesterolaemia.

Whole blood and plasma viscosity, red cell aggregability and deformability, and plasma fibrinogen have been compared between 16 children aged between 6 and 18 years with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and 16 controls individually matched for age and sex. Mean (SD) plasma cholesterol was 7.19 (1.23) mmol/l in the patients and 4.31 (0.84) mmol/l in the controls. This was due to a similar difference in low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, while triglycerides and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were similar between groups. No differences were seen in any of the rheological parameters between the two groups. This suggests that the rheological abnormalities seen in adults with FH are not a direct consequence of their hyperlipidaemia, and may instead be a reflection of their more extensive atherosclerosis.