Pre-atherosclerotic lesions in Down syndrome

Autopsy examination of seven non-institutionalised Down syndrome patients (age ten to twenty-five years) revealed normal prevalence of pre-atherosclerotic lesions. Atherosclerotic plaques were observed in one of these subjects (age fourteen years), refuting reported implications that this population is atheroma-free. However, atheromatous aortic lesions were not seen in an eighth subject (age fifty years), raising the possibility that an atheroma-free subgroup of patients with Down syndrome may exist.