WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Extremely obese youngsters can have heart abnormalities that put them at serious risk of heart attacks and chest pains, U.S. researchers have said.
The researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center studied 343 patients at the hospital who ranged in age from 5 to 23 but had an average age of 12.
The children already had changes in the heart's left ventricle, the pumping chamber of the heart, the researchers found.
"Increased thickness of the heart is a risk factor for ischemic heart disease -- heart attack," cardiologist Dr. Tom Kimball said in a statement.
"The thicker a patient's heart, the more likely the patient is to potentially have issues with reduced blood flow, leading to a heart attack," he said.
The heavier the children, the higher their risk, the researchers told a meeting in San Diego of the American Society of Echocardiography.