title: Tracking of cardiovascular disease risk factor variables in school-age children.
abstract: Persistence in ranks (tracking) for cardiovascular disease risk factor variables was examined in 2236 children who were screened three times over a 5-yr period. As expected, the greatest persistence was noted for height (r = 0.47-0.99) and weight (r = 0.70-0.96). Correlation coefficients for systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure ranged from 0.38 to 0.66 and 0.22 to 0.49 respectively. Among lipids, the correlations were highest for serum beta-lipoprotein cholesterol ranging from 0.62 to 0.78. For those children who were at or above the 90th percentile on a risk factor variable during the first examination, a tendency to retain their ranks in the second and third examinations was noted. For systolic blood pressure, 35% of those initially high remained high in the second examination and 30% in the third examination. Correspondingly, for those initially high for beta-lipoprotein cholesterol, 47 and 41% remained high. A linear discriminant model was used to distinguish characteristics of children who persisted at high rankings and those who did not. The model was effective for total and beta-lipoprotein cholesterol, but only moderately so for systolic blood pressure.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins; D014280:Triglycerides; C030104:lipoprotein cholesterol; D002784:Cholesterol