High tracking of apolipoprotein B levels from the prepubertal age to adolescence in Spanish children.

AIM: To assess tracking of lipid and apolipoproteins from the prepubertal age (baseline, 6-8 years old) to adolescence (follow-up, 13-16 years old) in Spanish children. METHODS: The sample population included 385 healthy children (179 boys and 206 girls). Tracking was estimated by correlations between baseline and follow-up levels, multiple regression models in which the follow-up lipid was the dependent variable and analysing the percentage of individuals who remained in the same lipid levels status from prepubertal age to adolescence. RESULTS: Correlations between baseline and follow-up levels for low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B (apo B) were stronger in boys and for high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and apo A-I stronger in girls. Regression analyses showed that, after adjusting by body mass index (BMI), baseline LDL-cholesterol and apo B levels explain 23% and 39% of the variation of follow-up LDL-cholesterol and apo B levels, respectively, in boys and 13% and 22%, respectively, in girls. The strength of tracking for LDL-cholesterol and apo B was 79% and 89%, respectively, in boys and 72% and 82%, respectively, in girls. CONCLUSION: Apolipoprotein B showed the strongest tracking in both sexes, stronger than for LDL-cholesterol, which supports the importance of determining apo B levels as a marker of dyslipidaemia in children.

[Assessment of overweight from prepuberty to adolescence]. / Valoración de la evolución temporal del sobrepeso desde la edad prepuberal hasta la adolescencia.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether prepubertal overweight continues into adolescence, and to evaluate if this progression over time differs by sex. METHODS: The sample population consisted of 179 healthy boys and 206 girls on whom anthropometric data were assessed at 6-8 years and 13-16 years of age. The assessment of overweight was performed according to the cut-offs points of the International Obesity Task Force. RESULTS: From baseline to follow-up, the percentage of participants who were overweight increased from 23% to 29.2% in males, and decreased from 32.6% to 21.4% in females. Baseline weight was significantly correlated (P<.01) with follow-up weight in both males (r=0.78) and females (r=0.68). Weight and BMI at 6-to-8 years- old explained percentages of variation of weight and BMI at 13-to-16 years-old, higher in boys than in girls (64.1% and 44.1%, respectively, for weight; 53.5% and 39.9%, respectively, for BMI). A total of 75% of the participants remained in the same weight category. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of overweight in adolescence decreased in girls. The weight and BMI at prepubertal age account for a significant percentage of the variation in weight and BMI in adolescence. This percentage is higher in males than in females.