Prevalence of Dyslipidemia among School-Age Children and Adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Objective Lipid abnormalities during childhood might be associated with a higher risk of atherosclerosis development in adulthood. In Ethiopia, there were no data on this area. The present work was aimed at assessing the lipid profile abnormalities among children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17 years, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Materials and Methods The present school-based cross-sectional study was done from March 2019 to October 2019 in the capital city, Addis Ababa. A total of 504 students were randomly recruited for this study. The total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels were determined using the Cobas c501 automated chemistry analyzer. The prevalence of lipid abnormalities was described in percentages. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed, and data with p -value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Dyslipidemia in at least one of the lipid profiles was observed in 322 (63.9%) school children, whereas only one of the participants had an abnormality in all four lipid profile tests. The prevalence of total cholesterol 200 mg/dL or higher, low-density lipoprotein 130 mg/dL or higher, high-density lipoprotein less than 40 mg/dL, and triglycerides 130 mg/dL or higher was in 14 (2.8%), 16 (3.2%), 294 (58.4%), and 46 (19.1%) participants, respectively. Conclusion In the current work, the majority of the study participants had a normal lipid profile except increased prevalence of a reduced concentration of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. The overall prevalence of serum lipid abnormalities was 63.9%. Serum lipid levels did not show significant differences with sex, age, fasting habits, or obesity.