Preventive Cardiology

Abnormal cholesterol and high blood pressure are well-recognized conditions in adults. It surprises many people that these conditions can also arise in childhood, and that they lay the foundation for heart disease in adulthood. Research shows that normalizing cholesterol values and reducing high blood pressure in children may help prevent or slow the development of heart disease as they reach adulthood.

For more than 30 years, the Preventive Cardiology Clinic at Children’s Hospital Boston has offered state-of-the-art services aimed at identifying and medically managing the risk factors—particularly abnormal cholesterol and blood pressure often related to excess weight—that lead to cardiac events in adulthood. Its goals are to prevent heart attack, stroke and other acute cardiac events later in life; to decrease mortality; and to increase a child's future quality of life. We're the first and largest clinical service of this kind in the Northeast—highly experienced in evaluating and treating heart disease risk factors in children.

Our expertise

The Preventive Cardiology Clinic at Children’s is the only clinical service in the Northeast that focuses on preventing heart disease in children. We take a multidisciplinary, team approach to managing the young patients who come to our clinic. Our providers include clinicians specializing in pediatric cardiology and heart disease prevention, endocrinology, gastroenterology and primary care—as well as dieticians experienced in pediatric hyperlipidemia and hypertension.