[Comparison of measurements of cholesterol, glucose and uric acid taken at 5-year intervals in children and adolescents].

BACKGROUND

There are several reports on cardiovascular disease risk factors but, except for lipids and lipoproteins, there have been few studies tracking blood uric acid and glucose in healthy school children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Blood specimens were collected from 4,299 children and adolescents for determination of cholesterol, uric acid and glucose. The first samples were collected between 1977 and 1979 from subjects aged 4 to 17 years. The second samples were collected 5 years later.

RESULTS

The blood glucose concentrations increased before the age of 10 years; those of uric acid increased during the second decade and those of cholesterol decreased during puberty, to a greater degree in boys. Hypercholesterolemia (cholesterol > 5.9 mmol/l) was found in about 6% of boys and 10% of girls. Eight boys and 3 girls had blood glucose concentrations higher than 6.7 mmol/l at the first collection. 5 years later, the correlation coefficients by sex and by cross section of age were greater than 0.5 for cholesterol and uric acid and were about 0.3 for glucose.

CONCLUSIONS

Successive blood values of glucose and uric acid are highly correlated; those of cholesterol are more highly correlated. However, the probability of remaining in the same percentile distribution remains below 50% for subjects whose initial values were above the 80th percentile.