[Diagnosis, clinical features and treatment of hyperlipidemias in children].

Hyperlipidemias represent one of the most important risk factors for the development of premature atherosclerotic disease. If prevention of ischaemic cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for about 50% of the deaths in Western Europe, should be successful, diagnosis and treatment of hyperlipidemic states should start as early as possible. A short overview concerning the composition and the metabolism of the lipoproteins is given and theoretical and practical aspects for the classification of the different forms of hyperlipoproteinemia during childhood are pointed out. Laboratory determinations are described and therapeutic approaches of the main pediatric hyperlipidemias are given: polygenetic and combined familial hyperlipidemias should be treated by diet alone, whereas familial hypercholesterolemias request drug treatment: cholestyramine, given in doses between 4 and 8 g seems to be the drug of choice. Possible future aspects of drug treatment are discussed, even those who are shown to increase the number of LDL-receptors, which are blocked in that disease. Finally, efforts are emphasized to screen all children of families, in which premature heart disease or hypercholesterolemia occur.