CHOLESTEROL AND THE CHILD: STUDIES OF THE CHOLESTEROL LEVELS OF BUSSELTON SCHOOL CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS¹

Abstract

SYNOPSIS In 1964 as part of a population study, the blood cholesterols of 1,292 school children in the town of Busselton in Western Australia were examined. A gradual rise in the median value throughout school life was demonstrated in both boys and girls, with a pre‐adolescent rise comparable with similar studies elsewhere. In 1969 the cholesterol levels of the children with the highest, middle and lowest 5% levels in 1967 were repeated and showed a highly significant correlation, thus indicating that a single cholesterol estimation in childhood is of considerable predictive value, at least over a 2 year period. Comparison of cholesterol levels of 929 children with those of their parents revealed a significant correlation between parents and children throughout the whole cholesterol range. It has not been possible to demonstrate whether the cause is dietary or genetic, except in a few cases of genetic hyperlipidaemia, but it is likely that, at least in those children with a cholesterol higher than 250 mgm% of the cause is genetic. The mother's cholesterol is more closely related than the father's to that of the children. This might be due to both a genetic contribution to the children and her role in controlling the diet of the family, this control being greatest on the young children.

Longitudinal study of cholesterol values in 68 children from birth to 11 years of age.

“…For girls the corresponding figures were: at birth, 1-9 (0.6); at 1 year, 4-7 (1-0); at 5 years, 4-6 (0.7); and at 11 years, 5-1 (0-7). The mean (SD) high density lipoprotein concentrations (mmol/l) for boys were: at 5, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] …”

Lipid, Lipoprotein and APO-A and APO-B Lipoprotein Distribution in Italian and Swiss Schoolchildren. The Geneva Survey

“…In children, precursors of cardiovascular risk factors can be The cholesterol and triglyceride measuring methods had previidentified. In several countries investigations in this field have ously been standardized by four European laboratories (24); they been recently accomplished (15,16,17,35,38), but results of were rechecked during the study. plasma lipoprotein lipids have been reported (6,10,21,32,40) in Serum apolipoproteins A and B were determined by electroimlimited numbers.…”

Primary Hyperlipoproteinaemia in a Danish Family

“…In two epidemiological investigations of the serum cholesterol of school children [7,14], a low but positive correlation was found between the chol esterol values of the children and their parents. G o dfr ey el at.…”

“…G o dfr ey el at. [7] found that the cholesterol values of the mother is more related than that of the father to the cholesterol value of the child, and S tarr [14] found that the cholesterol value is a family characteristic (table 1). The present family material has been studied, as was that of S t a r r , with regard to the cholesterol value because types II A and B occur most frequently.…”