Association between the number of cardiovascular risk factors and each risk factor level in elementary school children

Abstract

Background: Little is known regarding the association between numbers of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and the level of each risk factor in elementary school children based on a longitudinal study. Methods and Results: A descriptive study of 319 obese children aged 6-11 years who participated in a screening program for comorbidity of obesity between 2003 and 2005, and who participated in consecutive years thereafter, was performed. Abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia (low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels and/or high triglyceride levels), and raised fasting glucose levels were used as the CV risk factors. Metabolic syndrome and each CV risk factor were defined using the criteria newly established by a Task Force financed by the Health and Labour Science Research in Japan. An increase in the total number of CV risk factors implied a worsening of each CV risk factor level over a 1-year interval, and vice versa. Abdominal obesity in males and insulin resistance in females were prevalent in children who were at elementary school level. Conclusions: We should assess not only obesity but all CV risk factor levels, because a cluster of risk factors implies a worsening of the individual risk factor levels in children as young as those in elementary school.