Assessing cardiovascular risk in children: the Jackson, Mississippi CRRIC Study

According to the NHANES III study, obesity, a cardiovascular risk factor, is now an epidemic in the United States. An estimated 97 million adults and one in five children between 6 and 17 are overweight. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among a group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at two randomly chosen elementary schools in Jackson, Mississippi. The sample consisted of 246 ethnic minority children. Results revealed that 16% of the boys had systolic blood pressures at or above the 90th percentile for sex and age and 13% had abnormally high diastolic blood pressures. For girls, 8% exhibited systolic blood pressures and 21% had diastolic blood pressures at or above the 90th percentile. Body mass index (BMI) levels revealed that 39% of the boys and 49% of the girls had BMIs at or above the 85th percentile for age and sex.