Understanding Heart Attack and Stroke Risk in Children with Type 1 Diabetes
To understand more about risk factors for cardiovascular disease in young patients, Georgetown University is looking for both children with type 1 diabetes and healthy children, ages 12 to 18, to help with an important new study.
March 25, 2015
Explore By Category :
- Blood Management
- Cancer
- Cardiology
- Emergency medicine/trauma
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology/digestive diseases
- Healthcare industry
- Innovation
- Interventional Pulmonology
- Interventional Radiology
- Medical Education
- MedStar in the community
- Neurosciences
- Nursing
- Oncology
- Orthopaedics and sports medicine
- Orthopedic
- Pediatrics
- Primary care
- Quality and Patient Safety
- Rehabilitation
- Research
- Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy
- Technology/IT
- Transplant
- Transplantation
- Women’s services
- Video Gallery
- MedStar Washington Hospital Center News
- MedStar Harbor Hospital News
- MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital News
- MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center News
- MedStar Union Memorial Hospital News
- MedStar Montgomery Medical Center News
- MedStar St. Mary's Hospital News
- MedStar Health System News
- MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center News
WASHINGTON – It’s a little known fact: heart attack is the leading cause of death for people younger than 40 who have type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is a risk factor for both heart attacks and strokes; more than a third of those with type 1 diabetes die before age 55 from some form of cardiovascular disease.* To understand more about risk factors in young patients, Georgetown University is looking for both children with type 1 diabetes and healthy children, ages 12 to 18, to help with an important new study.
“Many young patients with type 1 diabetes have high cholesterol, a contributing risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but only a few of them are treated with cholesterol-lowering medications,” says Evgenia Gourgari, MD, an assistant professor of pediatric endocrinology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. “Pediatric endocrinologists are often hesitant to treat these young patients in the absence of information about the long-term safety and effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering drugs.”
Gougari, who treats patients at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and her colleagues have launched a study to learn more about children with type 1diabetes who might be at risk of later having a stroke or heart attack.
“What we seek to understand are the differences in cholesterol, blood pressure, potential plaque build-up in the arteries and other factors in those with type 1 diabetes in comparison with healthy youngsters,” says Gougari, principal investigator of the study. “Eventually, we’ll want to know if treatment can make a difference and if it matters to start treatment early so we can prevent future heart disease.”
Healthy children and those with type 1 diabetes between the ages of 12 and 18 are invited to volunteer in a study involving a single blood draw (to measure lipid/cholesterol levels), a urine test and an ultrasound scan of the carotid artery (in the neck). All the tests are conducted in one visit at no charge to participants. A modest compensation is offered to all participants.
This study is funded in part by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR000101) to Georgetown and Howard universities, and by generous community support through the Georgetown University Medical Center Partners In Research program. Gourgari reports having no personal financial interests related to the study.
For more information about this for children with type 1 diabetes, please call Stephanie Gubb at 202-444-1210.
About MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is a not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research hospital with 609 beds located in Northwest Washington, D.C. Founded in the Jesuit principle of cura personalis—caring for the whole person—MedStar Georgetown is committed to offering a variety of innovative diagnostic and treatment options within a trusting and compassionate environment.
MedStar Georgetown’s centers of excellence include neurosciences, transplant, cancer and gastroenterology. Along with Magnet® nurses, internationally recognized physicians, advanced research and cutting-edge technologies, MedStar Georgetown’s healthcare professionals have a reputation for medical excellence and leadership. MedStar Georgetown University Hospital—Knowledge and Compassion Focused on You.
###
Media Contact
Marianne Worley
703-558-1287
[email protected]
Category : Cardiology , Endocrinology , Pediatrics ,
Back to Top
Related News

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital named one of the Best Maternity Care Hospitals in the U.S.
Category : Education , Pediatrics , Women’s services ,

Program Giving Children Hospitalized Long-Term "A Room of Their Own" Launches at MedStar Georgetown
Category : Pediatrics ,

MedStar Georgetown Hosts Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for New Pediatric Mobile Clinic, Gives Toys to Local Children
Category : MedStar in the community , Pediatrics ,

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Children’s National Health System Receive $6 Million from The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation to Launch Early Childhood Innovation Network
Category : Pediatrics ,

Swim Safety Tips for Making the Summer Safe and Fun
Category : Emergency medicine/trauma , Pediatrics ,