Relationship between anthropometric variables and lipid levels among school children: The Taipei Children Heart Study

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between anthropometric parameters and lipid levels among Taiwanese school children. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using a probability-proportional-to size sampling and multi-stages sampling procedure, we sampled 1500 school children from 10 schools in Taipei city. Anthropometric parameters including body weight, body height, waist circumference, hip circumference and skinfolds were measured. Serum total cholesterol (CHOL), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 and B (ApoA1 and ApoB) were measured by standard methods, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and CHOL/HDL-C ratio were calculated by formula. RESULTS: We included in our analyses 1366 children (681 boys and 685 girls) with a mean age of 13.3 y (from 12 to 16 y) and with valid anthropometric and biochemical parameters. The boys had higher body height (P < 0.001) and larger body weight (P < 0.05), waist circumference (P < 0.01) and waist/hip ratio (WHR, P < 0.001) than the girls. However, the girls had larger skinfolds than the boys. After adjusting for age, girls had higher total CHOL, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, ApoA1 and ApoB concentrations than boys. In general, TG was positively associated with most anthropometric parameters (except body height); a similar negative association between HDL-C and anthropometric variables was noted. After controlling, for age, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and puberty development, shorter body height was the strongest predictor of total CHOL, LDL-C and ApoB concentrations among boys. Although body mass index (BMI) was a significant positive predictor (P < 0.01) of the CHOL/HDL-C ratio; skinfold measurements were the strongest anthropometric predictors of most lipid concentrations among boys. Among girls, we found WHR and BMI to be the strongest positive predictors of TG and ApoB level respectively (both Pt 0.001), but skinfold measurements were best for predicting HDL-C, LDL-C, ApoA1 and the CHOL/HDL-C ratio. CONCLUSIONS: From this large study of school-age children from Taiwan, we found anthropometric parameters, such as body height, BMI or WHR, are adequate predictors of blood lipid levels; however, skinfold measurements are generally more strongly associated with lipid levels in both genders.