NHLBI integrated pediatric guidelines: battle for a future free of cardiovascular disease.

The report of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents collects into one document atherosclerotic disease prevention in pediatric age groups. The guidelines summarize the evidence base and make recommendations that encourage universal adoption of healthier lifestyles, identification of children with cardiovascular disease risk factors, and treatment of those risk factors using targeted lifestyle modification and rarely pharmacotherapy. These recommendations highlight childhood as a frontier for cardiovascular disease prevention. The guideline recommendations are controversial and not universally embraced, but at the very least, they suggest directions for important research. This article explores key facets of the guidelines, controversies and future directions in preventive cardiology for children.