Assessment of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Children With Down Syndrome With Normal Weight: A Comparative Study Against a Non-Down Syndrome Cohort.
Normal-weight kids with Down syndrome already carry poorer lipid profiles, so start heart-health screens early.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Esparza Ocampo et al. (2025) compared blood fats in normal-weight kids with Down syndrome to matched peers without DS.
All kids were late-elementary age and had body-mass-index in the healthy range.
What they found
Even at normal weight, children with DS had worse lipid profiles.
They showed higher total cholesterol, higher triglycerides, and lower good HDL cholesterol.
How this fits with other research
McQuaid et al. (2024) saw the opposite pattern in adults: obesity did not worsen lipids in DS. The clash disappears when you note age. Kids with DS start life with lipid trouble; adults may have different fat metabolism.
Mulder et al. (2020) already showed DS teens carry more belly fat and inflammation. Kenia extends the metabolic warning downward to younger, normal-weight children.
Bertapelli et al. (2016) review reminds us exercise-only plans rarely trim weight in DS. Kenia adds a new reason to act early: lipid risk is present before extra pounds show up.
Why it matters
You cannot wait for obesity to appear. Screen lipids at routine visits once a child with DS hits school age. Pair diet education with fun movement, but plan for multi-component support. Share numbers with families so they see why heart-healthy habits start now, not later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Down syndrome (DS) stands as the most frequent chromosomal abnormality leading to intellectual disability. A prevalence rate of 6.1-13.1 per 10 000 births has been estimated. Although life expectancy has been increasing from 25 years in 1983 to 60 years in 2020 in this population, their quality may be impaired by the development of diseases. However, it has also opened the possibility of carrying out a significant number of cardiovascular risk studies in DS. This includes comparisons of biochemical cardiometabolic risk factors, including total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), between normal-weight children with DS and age- and gender-matched children without DS. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, with parental consent, 25 children with DS and 30 age-matched controls (8-12 years old) participated. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from anthropometric assessments, while glucose and lipid profiles were measured from the obtained blood samples. RESULTS: According to the World Health Organization BMI criteria, all individuals from both groups had normal weight. The DS group exhibited higher TC (179.4 ± 50.4 mg/dL vs. 120.7 ± 31.6 mg/dL, p < 0.000), TG (125.2 ± 42.5 mg/dL vs. 86.5 ± 54.1 mg/dL, p < 0.005) and LDL-C (108.1 ± 40.8 mg/dL vs. 120.8 ± 53.5 mg/dL, p = 0.373), while HDL-C was lower (46.3 ± 12.3 mg/dL vs. 54.7 ± 11.8 mg/dL, p = 0.008) compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that children with DS have a higher prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors compared with the general population, regardless of weight, highlighting the importance of studying dyslipidaemias in the DS population independently of body weight.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2025 · doi:10.1111/jir.13241