Endocrine Abstracts

Dyslipidemiαs should be managed from childhood for prevention of early atheromatic vascular lesions and premature cardiovascular disease in adult life.

Aim: We examined the frequency of different types of dyslipidemiα in children and the results on blood lipids of lifestyle intervention (diet and exercise).

Patients and methods: We studied retrospectively 136 children, 74 boys and 62 girls, mean chronological age 8.5±3.5 years with dyslipidemiα. Secondary causes of dyslipidemiα were excluded. High levels were considered for total cholesterol (h-TC) >200 mg%, LDL-cholesterol (h-LDL-c) >130 mg%, triglycerides (h-TG) >100 mg%, HDL-cholesterol (h-HDL-c) >60 mg% and low level for HDL-c (l-HDL-c) <45 mg%. For statistical analyses Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon test were used.

Results: The frequency of different types of dyslipidemiα is presented in the table. LDL-c was significantly increased in children with family history of premature cardiovascular disease (FHCD) compared to those without FHCD (178.1±50.4 mg% vs 139.3±33.3 mg%, p<0.002). Fifty-nine children who were reexamined after 0.9±0.9years of lifestyle intervention had significantly decreased levels of LDL-c (158.4±35.1 mg% vs 133.7±25.5 mg%, p<0.001, percentage – 13.8%). There was not any significant difference in levels of TG or HDL-c.

Conclusions: Increased LDL-c is the most frequent lipid abnormality among children with dyslipidemias. Low HDL-c, alone or in combination with h-LDL-c or/and h-TG is frequently observed. Lifestyle interventions are effective in significantly decreasing LDL-c.