Aug. 5, 2008 -- The growing recognition that the buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries that can increase risk of heart attacks and strokes begins as early as childhood has experts calling for earlier and more aggressive treatment to reduce this risk.

Lifestyle and drug interventions aimed at lowering cholesterol beginning in early adulthood and even childhood could significantly reduce death rates from heart and vascular disease, the experts concluded in an analysis appearing in the Aug. 5 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

The current practice of prescribing cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to mostly middle-aged people who already have significant plaque buildup does not take full advantage of the potential of these drugs, longtime cholesterol researcher Daniel Steinberg, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego tells WebMD.

"The research tells us that [statin] treatment as it is currently given reduces death and disability from heart disease by about 30%," he says. "Our contention is that that is a gross underestimate of the benefits we would see if we treated earlier and more aggressively."