title: Prevalence of Dyslipidemia among Elementary School Children in Birjand, East of Iran, 2012.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various studies have indicated that dyslipidemia starts in childhood. There is a relationship between the concentration of blood lipids and atherosclerosis. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of dyslipidemia in elementary school children.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was performed on 1,626 (882 girls and 744 boys) elementary school children aged between 6 and 11 years in Birjand in 2012. Samples were selected through multistage random sampling. The lipid profiles (i.e., cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]) of the subjects were measured after 12 hours' fasting. The definition of dyslipidemia was based on the criteria of The American Children Academia in 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dyslipidemia (at least one abnormal level of a serum lipid) was detected in 31% of the children (31.3% of the girls vs. 30.6% of the boys). Total cholesterol was ≥ 200 mg/dL in 13.4% of the children, LDL-C was ≥ 130 mg/dL in 8.5%, HDL-C was < 40 mg/dL in 11.3%, and triglyceride was ≥ 130 mg/dL in 15.3%. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia was significantly higher in the females than in the males (16.3% in the girls vs. 13.8% in the boys; p value = 0.01) - while hypercholesterolemia (12.2% in the girls vs. 14.9% in the boys; p value = 0.16), high LDL-C (8.5% in the girls vs. 8.5% in the boys; p value = 0.05), and low HDL-C (12.7% in the girls vs. 9.5% in the boys; p value = 0.1) were not significantly different between the two sexes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of dyslipidemia was high in the school children in Birjand and, thus, requires preventive measures.
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Taheri
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Toba
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Bita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bijari
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Kokab
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Namakin
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zardast
authors.affiliation: Birjand Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Tayyebeh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chahkandi
keywords: Child; Dyslipidemias; Iran; Prevalence