INTRODUCTION: Adult cardiovascular disease has its root in childhood. Cardiovascular disease aggregates in families, so determination of high-risk families and early screening and control of cardiovascular risk factors in offspring will help in efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease. This study was performed to determine the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors in parents with a positive history of premature myocardial infarction and their offspring.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2004 on 91 parents and their offspring (91children). The parents were randomly selected from among patients hospitalized in the critical care unit of Vali-e-Asr hospital with premature myocardial infarction. Important indicators such as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) were measured in both groups.RESULTS: There was no significant relation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure between parents and their offspring. Thirty-three percent of the parents had hypertension. No cases of hypertension were found in children. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher in the children of hypertensive parents. Significant relations were seen between BMI and obesity in parents and their children. There was no significant relation between serum lipids, high TC, high LDL-C and low HDL-C levels in parents and their children. The commonest lipid disorder in parents and their offspring was low HDL-C.CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show a significant relation between hypertension, obesity and blood lipid disorders between parents with positive history of premature myocardial infraction and their children. Hence, screening programs in these children for detection of cardiovascular risk factors are recommended.