Abstract
Background
Turner syndrome is an X chromosome aberration that affects females. Women with Turner syndrome are exposed to a greater risk of coronary artery disease, arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Design
The objective of our study was to assess the prevalence of classic risk factors of coronary artery disease in young women with Turner syndrome in comparison to a representative group of Polish young women from the general population.
Methods
The study enrolled 176 women aged 25 years with Turner syndrome from the whole of Poland. The controls were 231 young women selected to be representative, who took part in the NATPOL PLUS study (website: http://www.natpol.pl).
Results
Women with Turner symdrome tended to be shorter and lighter than the general population (P>0.0001), they were also found to present higher values of body mass index and waist-hip ratio (P>0.0001). Significantly higher values of diastolic blood pressure (P>0.0001) and levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein fraction were found in the group of women with Turner syndrome, whereas the high-density lipoprotein fraction level was lower (P>0.05). Similarly, glucose levels on an empty stomach were significantly higher among women with Turner syndrome (P>0.0001).
Conclusion
Women with Turner syndrome constitute a group at higher cardiovascular risk. This group of women requires effective preventative medicine from the earliest age. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 13:467-469 © 2006 The European Society of Cardiology
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