hyperlipidemia in 12 year-old children living in tehran

there is now clear evidence that the atherosclerotic process begins in childhood. a major and important cause of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (chd) is elevated cholesterol level. in order to clarify the sigificance of elevated total cholesterol (tc) in children who live in tehran, we measured the lipid profiles including tc triglyceride (tg), and high density lipoproteein cholesterol (hd –c) of 1000 twelve- year-old children. low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ldl-c) value was calculated by using friedwald formula. the mean level of tc in all cases reached 170±39 mg/dl. the mean level of ldl-c, hdl-c and tg were 101±38 mg/dl, 48±12mg/dl, and 105±52 mg/dl, respectively. tc level in 16.4% of the cases was above 200 mg/dl and 16% had ldl-c levels more than 130mg/dl. mean ldl-c level in the boys was 6.2 mg/dl (with 95% confidence interval of 1.3 to 11.1) more than girls. also mean hdl-c level in the girls was 4.1 mg/dl (with 95% confidence interval of 2.5 to 5.7) more than that of boys (p-value in both=0.000). tc and hdl-c levels in the northern parts of tehran were significantly higher than the southern parts. mean ldl-c and tg levels didn’t show any differences. regarding the normal range of tc (<170mg/dl), the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia in tehran seems unacceptable.