[Study of hypercholesterolemia among the child population of Valdemoro]

We studied 99 children with ages ranging from 0 to 14 years, randomly selected from the census of Valdemoro (Madrid) and stratified by sex and age. The clinical records of all the children were completed and the levels of total serum cholesterol were assessed. The average cholesterol level for the total sample was 159 +/- 31 mg/dl (m +/- sd). Twenty-six children (26.3%) had values above 175 mg/dl [75th percentile of the Lipid Research Clinics Program(LRCP)], with no significant differences between the values of such percentile in both studies. Ten per cent of the children showed cholesterolemias greater than 200 mg/dl. The average cholesterol level in children whose mothers had high education levels was 125 +/- 16 mg/dl (m +/- sd), versus 161 +/- 21 mg/dl (m +/- sd); p = 0.005; (CI 95% of the difference 12 to 62 mg/dl) in children whose mothers had low-medium education levels. Cholesterol in children with family history of hypercholesterolemia (HC) showed a non-significant trend towards higher levels than in children without such antecedents (164 mg/dl vs 155 mg/dl; p = 0.19; NS). Neither the differences were significant when comparing children with or without family history of early cardiovascular disease (ECDV) (162 md/dl vs 158 md/dl; p = 0.49). Using both familiar antecedents as misleading method, just 72% of the children were diagnosed of HC (cholesterol greater than 175 md/dl). The absence of both antecedents (negative VP) would discard the presence of HC in 83% of the children in such situation (CI 95%, 67% to 92%).