Objective   To investigate serum lipid level and its related factors among kindergarten children in Tianjin city.

  Methods   Using cluster sampling, we recruited 5 943 children aged 5 – 6 years in 49 kindergartens for a cross-sectional survey in Tianjin city from March to June, 2018. Fasting serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) were detected and physical measurements were performed among the children. Student t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Chi-square test were adopted in data analysis.

  Results   For all the children, the overall abnormal rate of serum lipids was 10.3% and the abnormal rate was 9.0% and 1.7% for serum TC and TG. Compared to those among the boys, significantly higher mean value (4.29 ± 0.71 vs. 4.18 ± 0.66 mmol/L) and abnormal rate (10.5% vs. 7.6%) of serum TC were detected among the girls (both P < 0.05); the overall dyslipidemia (abnormal TC or TG) rate was also significantly higher in the girls than in the boys (11.9% vs. 9.0%, P < 0.05). The abnormal rates of TG were 7.9%, 2.1%, 1.9%, and 0.8% for the children with obesity, overweight, underweight, and normal weight assessed by body mass index (BMI), with a significant difference among the groups (P < 0.05). The overall dyslipidemia rate differed significantly among the children with different BMI; the overall dyslipidemia rate of obesity/underweight children were significantly higher those of normal weight/overweight children (14.7%/14.6% vs. 9.8%/9.8%) (P < 0.01 for all). In comparison to the children in suburban regions, the urban children had significantly higher abnormal rate of TC (10.2% vs. 7.9%) and overall dyslipidemia (11.6% vs. 9.3%) (both P < 0.05).

  Conclusion   Among pre-school children in Tianjin city, the prevalence of dyslipidemia is relatively high and special attention should be paid to dyslipidmia prevention and control among the pre-school children with obesity and living in urban regions.