[A study from Navarra. Hyperlipidemia V. What is the best definition of hyperlipemia in childhood and adolescence?].

As part of an epidemiological study on cardiovascular risk factors among children and adolescents in Navarra, lipids and lipoproteins were analyzed in 5,829 children of both sexes, between 4-17 years of age, and selected at random from the school population in our community. In this article, we analyze the different definitions for lipid risk during childhood, whether based on percentile values, according to age and sex of the child, of cholesterol, LDL/cholesterol, or risk quotients (C/HDL, LDL/HDL), or even on the absolute values of all of these parameters. An appropriate definition for hyperlipemia during childhood, once we know the average variations in the levels of lipids and lipoproteins according to age and sex, as well as the variations of the lipid risk prevalence according to its definition, would be: 1. Previous screening according to cholesterol serum levels: Values higher than the 70th percentile for each group according to age and sex: or higher than 185 mg/dl for children age 4 to 12 and 170 mg/dl for children age 13 to 17. 2. To calculate the LDL/HDL quotient among those selected children included in the definition of hyperlipemia when the quotient is higher than the 85th percentile for the patients age and sex, or it is higher than 2.2.