[Lipids in children and young people. A public health problem]

Cardiovascular diseases represent an important Public Health problem among us. It is known that the atherosclerotic process on which they are based is mostly dependent on hyperlipidemia, mainly of those characterized by hypercholesterolemia and starts early in childhood. In this paper some lipid parameters were evaluated in children and youngsters and the prevalence of those at risk was compared with the one found in a population sample of adult people, collected at random, using the same determinations and laboratory methods. The authors conclude that preventive measures should be implemented as early as possible in childhood as there are many children and youngsters with hypercholesterolemia and the latter may become lower; some ideas and recommendations for those measures are pointed out.