Original articleCardiovascular Risk Factors and Excess Adiposity Among Overweight Children and Adolescents: The Bogalusa Heart Study
Section snippets
Study Population
The Bogalusa (Louisiana) Heart Study is a community-based study of cardiovascular disease risk factors in early life.16 Seven cross-sectional examinations of schoolchildren in Bogalusa were conducted between 1973 and 1994. Adults (18 to 37 years of age) who had been previously examined as children were examined in four studies from 1982 to 1996.
Our cross-sectional analyses are restricted to 5- to 17-year-olds who were fasting, and who had recorded values for weight, height, and levels of six
Results
The mean age of the examined children in the cross-sectional sample was 11.4 years (range, 5 to 17 years), and mean levels of various characteristics are shown in Table I (available at www.jpeds.com). About 12% of the children were overweight, and 2% had a BMI ≥CDC 99th P. Several of the sex differences in risk factor levels varied by age, but girls had higher levels of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, insulin, and DBP, whereas among 5- to 10-year-olds, boys had higher levels of HDL cholesterol
Discussion
Children and adolescents who have high levels of BMI relative to their sex and age peers are likely to have multiple risk factors, excess adiposity, and a high risk for adult obesity. Because levels of BMI and metabolic risk factors are continuous, the classification of “very overweight” children will always be somewhat arbitrary, but we have shown that the 99th P of BMI-for-age (1) is associated with a greatly increased frequency of biochemical abnormalities, (2) has a high predictive value
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The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the CDC.
Supported by National Institutes of Aging Grant AG-16592.