Prevalence of Dyslipidemia among Elementary School Children in Birjand, East of Iran, 2012

Background: Various studies have indicated that dyslipidemia starts in childhood. There is a relationship between the concentration of blood lipids and atherosclerosis. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of dyslipidemia in elementary school children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1,626 (882 girls and 744 boys) elementary school children aged between 6 and 11 years in Birjand in 2012. Samples were selected through multistage random sampling. The lipid profiles (i.e., cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]) of the subjects were measured after 12 hours’ fasting. The definition of dyslipidemia was based on the criteria of The American Children Academia in 2011. Results: Dyslipidemia (at least one abnormal level of a serum lipid) was detected in 31% of the children (31.3% of the girls vs. 30.6% of the boys). Total cholesterol was ≥ 200 mg/dL in 13.4% of the children, LDL-C was ≥ 130 mg/dL in 8.5%, HDL-C was < 40 mg/dL in 11.3%, and triglyceride was ≥ 130 mg/dL in 15.3%. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia was significantly higher in the females than in the males (16.3% in the girls vs. 13.8% in the boys; p value = 0.01) - while hypercholesterolemia (12.2% in the girls vs. 14.9% in the boys; p value = 0.16), high LDL-C (8.5% in the girls vs. 8.5% in the boys; p value = 0.05), and low HDL-C (12.7% in the girls vs. 9.5% in the boys; p value = 0.1) were not significantly different between the two sexes. Conclusion: The prevalence of dyslipidemia was high in the school children in Birjand and, thus, requires preventive measures.