Serum lipid profiles including non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in Turkish school-children.

OBJECTIVE: Early detection of dyslipidemia and long-term prevention of atherosclerosis by controlling risk factors should begin in childhood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dyslipidemia according to non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) levels in children and also evaluate serum non-HDL-C levels according to age groups, gender difference and living areas.

METHODS: Overall, 2896 children (1467 girls, 1429 boys) aged between 7-18 years, residing in urban and rural parts of Eskişehir, Turkey, were enrolled in this randomized cross-sectional study. Serum non-HDL-C, total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels were assessed in all participants of the study. Statistical analysis was performed Student's independent-samples T test for comparison of lipid parameters and relations between lipid parameters and age, anthropometric measurements, body fat percentage were evaluated by Pearson correlation test.

RESULTS: Serum non-HDL-C levels were significantly higher in girls (115.5+/-31.5mg/dl) than boys (106.7+/-30.2 mg/Dl) (p<0.001). For girls, serum non-HDL-C levels were higher in 7-10 year age group than in 11-14-year and 15-18-year age groups (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). For boys serum non-HDL-C levels of 7-10 year age group were significantly higher than in 11-14-year and 15-18-year age groups (p<0.001 for both). Serum non-HDL-C, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were higher in girls than in boys especially in the 7-10-year-old age group. Serum TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels were higher in urban area residents, while serum TG levels were higher in rural area residents (p<0.001). Serum non-HDL-C levels were similar in residents of different living areas (p>0.05). In both sexes, non-HDL-C levels positively correlated with age and lipid parameters except HDL-C levels and also negatively correlated with HDL-C levels. In boys, non-HDL-C levels also correlated with total body fat percentage, weight, height. The prevalence of dyslipidemia according to non-HDL-C levels was higher (13.2%) in girls than boys (8.9%) (p<0.001). The prevalence of elevated non-HDL-C levels was higher in urban area residents than in rural area residents (p<0.05). The dyslipidemia prevalence according to non-HDL-C levels was similar with dyslipidemia prevalence according to serum LDL-C levels.

CONCLUSION: Our results are indicative of the prevalence of dyslipidemia in children is considerably common in our population. Serum non-HDL-C levels could be used as an appropriate tool for detecting dyslipidemia in childhood.