Cardiovascular disease risk factors in a population-based sample of Norwegian children and adolescents

Objective. The objective of the study was to describe the distribution of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, and to evaluate the extent of clustering of CVD risk factors in Norwegian children and adolescents. Material and methods. A randomly selected cohort of 9-year-olds and 15-year-olds from all regions of the country was sampled. Of 2,818 subjects invited to participate, 2,299 accepted, giving an overall participation rate of 82 %. Results. Mean (SD) values for the main risk factors for 9-year-old and 15-year-old girls and boys were: total cholesterol (TC) (mmol/L) 4.49 (0.73), 4.37 (0.68), 4.19 (0.76) and 3.80 (0.69), respectively; triglycerides (TG) (mmol/L) 0.72 (0.33), 0.63 (0.32), 0.79 (0.32) and 0.82 (0.47), respectively; high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) (mmol/L) 1.70 (0.35), 1.79 (0.40), 1.61 (0.34) and 1.42 (0.30), respectively; systolic blood pressure (mmHg) 102.6 (7.7), 103.3 (7.7), 109.0 (8.8) and 115.3 (9.0), respectively; and homeostasis model assessment score (HOMA) 1.29 (0.83), 1.19 (0.78), 2.10 (1.37) and 2.14 (1.49), respectively. At least five risk factors were found in 11.1 (95 % confidence interval (CI) 8.76 to 13.44) times as many participants as expected. A significant degree of clustering of CVD risk factors was found in 11.4 % (95 % CI, 9.8 to 13.0) of the study population, and these had mean Z scores of 1.24 (0.06) and 1.04 (0.08) for the 9-year-olds and 15-year-olds, respectively. Conclusion. This study presents national reference data on selected CVD risk factors in children and adolescents.