Prevalence of dyslipidemia in school children of Kashmir valley

Increased incidence of CVD has been observed in recent years in the Kashmir valley (North India). Since the risk factor development of the cardiovascular diseases (CVD) takes place during childhood, we undertook an epidemiological survey to assess the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the school children of Kashmir valley.

1131 children of 5-19 years of age were selected and evaluated for BMI, cholesterol, TGs, LDL and HDL levels from different areas of Srinagar city (urban) region of the Kashmir valley from June 2011-June 2014.

The frequency of dyslipidemia in Kashmiri children varied along the subjects. Hypertriglyceridemia was seen in 82.6% of the males and 47.6% of females in the age group of 5-9 years, 38.5% of males and 51.1% of females in the age group of 10-14 years and 24.7% of males and 35.9% of the females in the age group of 15-19 years. Low levels of HDL than normal were seen in 34.7% of males and 19% of females in the age group of 5-9 years. Similarly low HDL levels were seen in 17.9% of males and 15.5% of females in the age group of 10-14 years. The incidence of low HDL was also seen in 4.9% of males and 10.8% of females in the age group of 15-19 years.

In the present study dyslipidemia was more common in centrally obese children and the most common component was high triglycerides and low HDL's. Female school children were at higher risk of developing CVD than males.