Echocardiography as a Marker of Cardiac end Organ Injury at a Young age

Coronary heart disease and stroke are two leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Risk factors have included obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus, and they appear to influence left ventricular mass, geometry, and systolic and diastolic function as well as left atrial size. Echocardiography is a non-invasive tool to assess these effects in children and should be utilized as a preventive as well as a diagnostic modality, as measurements from echocardiography may define an intermediate phenotype between risk and clinical endpoints. Information regarding the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the echocardiographic changes, the risk for future cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and the effects of intervention can be derived from research.