Purpose: To assess cardiovascular risk factors in overweight or obese children and adolescents in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and to investigate the relationship to BMI category.
Methods: Data of 63,025 overweight or obese patients (APV population) were compared to normal-weight subjects from a representative study on health status of 14,298 children and adolescents in Germany (KiGGS survey). The weight status was assessed by BMI, and BMI-SDS values were cal-culated using national reference data.
Results: In normal-weight KiGGS subjects, mean BMI was 17.3 ± 2.5 (BMI-SDS -0.1 ± 0.8). In the overweight or obese APV population, mean BMI was 30.2 ± 5.6 (BMI-SDS 2.5 ± 0.6). In normal-weight subjects blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were elevated in 6.1, 8.6, 7.0 and 3.0%, respectively, and HDL-cholesterol was reduced in 3.0%, whereas in overweight/obese subjects the percentages of abnormal values were 35.3, 13.8, 14.5, 13.6, and 10.1%, respectively.
Conclusions: Cardiovascular risk is increased in obese children and adolescents. There is a strong need to monitor blood pressure and serum lipids in this group of patients. Our results emphasize the importance of prevention of obesity in order to reduce cardiovascular risk.
Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.