Serum lipid profile and its associates in preschool children in Tianjin city

  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.