Association between the number of cardiovascular risk factors and each risk factor level in elementary school children.

BACKGROUND Little is known regarding the association between numbers of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and the level of each risk factor in elementary school children based on a longitudinal study. METHODS AND RESULTS A descriptive study of 319 obese children aged 6-11 years who participated in a screening program for comorbidity of obesity between 2003 and 2005, and who participated in consecutive years thereafter, was performed. Abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia (low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels and/or high triglyceride levels), and raised fasting glucose levels were used as the CV risk factors. Metabolic syndrome and each CV risk factor were defined using the criteria newly established by a Task Force financed by the Health and Labour Science Research in Japan. An increase in the total number of CV risk factors implied a worsening of each CV risk factor level over a 1-year interval, and vice versa. Abdominal obesity in males and insulin resistance in females were prevalent in children who were at elementary school level. CONCLUSIONS We should assess not only obesity but all CV risk factor levels, because a cluster of risk factors implies a worsening of the individual risk factor levels in children as young as those in elementary school.