The family at increased risk for future coronary heart disease is the family with a member who has 1) had one or more myocardial infarctions before age 55 years; 2) has levels of LDL cholesterol greater than 75th percentile for age; 3) has excessively low levels of HDL2 cholesterol; 4) has hypertension or has had a stroke, or both; 5) has excessive weight at any age and excessive weight gain during adulthood, or 6) smokes in the household.
These findings suggest that low levels of HDL2-C in children may identify families in which there is an increased risk of coronary heart disease and that parental smoking may contribute to changes in this risk factor in the children of smokers as well as in the smokers themselves.