Metabolic risk factors in a pediatric population with normal weight from Patagonia Argentina

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a disease closely related to classic cardiovascular problems such as acute myocardial infarction, aortic aneurysm or stroke1, which represent a major problem in global public health. Several studies show that the pathophysiologic mechanism begins in childhood, so it is important to recognize at this stage, the associated risk factors which could be related to the circulatory disorders in adulthood. The aim of this work was to determine the frequency of occurrence of cardiovascular risk factors in a population of eutrophic children from Comodoro Rivadavia city, using for its classification, the body mass index following World Health Organization and International Obesity Task Force criteria. One hundred and fifty three volunteers were studied (86 females and 67 males), aged between 6 to 11 years old with their parents written consent. Antropometry, blood pressure and waist circumference were measured, and body mass index was calculated. Childs had fasting total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and glucose assays. The results showed that 1.16 % of women presented augmented waist circumference. No child had abdominal obesity. Frequency of risk factors in boys and girls respectively was: hypertension (2.99 % and 2.33 %), hypercholesterolemia (38.8 % and 36.1 %), high LDL-C levels (17.9 % and 10.5 %), hypertriglyceridemia (7.46 % and 4.65 %), decreased HDL-C (5.97 % and 4.65 %), and hyperglycemia (1.49 % and 2.33 %)