Cholesterol Levels High in 14% of Children Tested

A study of Westminster fourth-graders has shown that about 14% of them had unusually high cholesterol levels, according to Beverly Bradley, school health coordinator for the Orange County Department of Education.

The study was conducted last May by a partnership of public and private groups that included the UC Irvine School of Medicine, the Orange County chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Orange County Health Care Agency. It showed that 57 of 424 children tested had excessive cholesterol levels.

A normal level is about 160 milliliters of cholesterol per deciliter of blood, said Dr. Dennis M. Davidson, director of Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine and the principal researcher for the study. The 57 whose cholesterol levels were considered excessive had results showing at least 200 milliliters, Davidson said.

Children with excessive cholesterol levels were counseled and invited to a second blood screening. Their parents were asked to immediately consult their family doctors, Bradley said.

Though both Bradley and Davidson expressed concern about high childhood cholesterol levels, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Assn.’s national headquarters in Dallas said Thursday that there was no proven connection between high childhood cholesterol levels and adult coronary disease.

“There’s not enough evidence to say that these kids are at risk as adults. We don’t know that yet,” she said.

10-Year Study Cited

She cited a 10-year study by pediatric cardiologist Ronald Lauer of Muscatine, Iowa, that showed that only 40% of children found to have high blood cholesterol continued to have high blood cholesterol levels as adults.

School health coordinator Bradley said, however, that she still believes that children with high cholesterol levels could be at risk for coronary disease.

“The heart association . . . is an exceedingly conservative organization and does not necessarily make policy quickly in relation to new research,” Bradley said.

In conjunction with the screening, a finger-prick blood test, health education about nutrition was presented.

With about $15,000 in grants from local medical corporations, the county department expects to continue the screenings this school year and eventually expand them to two more schools, Bradley said.

County public health director L. Rex Ehling called the local study’s findings of high childhood cholesterol levels a significant effort in preventive medicine.

“I don’t know that this pretends to predict heart disease,” he said, “but I think what it pretends to do is to pick up indicators of possible future problems and simply alert families. . . . The importance of this project is to alert individuals and communities as to the importance of diet, exercise, a lot of factors which are important in the reduction of heart disease.”

The study’s results also prompted a local pediatrician, Dr. Paul Y. Qaqundah, chairman of the Orange County chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, to call for early cholesterol screenings for all Orange County schoolchildren.

On Jan. 12, at the next regular meeting of the chapter’s 400 pediatricians, Qaqundah said, he will recommend that all family physicians “routinely check children aged 10 to 11” for blood cholesterol.

In the Orange County study, a total of 700 fourth-graders received nutrition education and 424 children at 13 schools had

blood tests, Davidson said. In addition to the 57 students who had cholesterol levels of more than 200, Davidson said, 191 had cholesterol levels between 161 and 200 and 176 children had levels of 160 and below.

He said the study showed no significant difference in blood cholesterol by ethnic group.

Over the last 15 years, in similar tests of schoolchildren around the country, researchers have repeatedly found high cholesterol levels in as many as 25% to 40% of children tested.

Fourth-grader Surprised

At a press conference Thursday, Westminster fourth-grader Chrissy Campbell said she was surprised to learn that her cholesterol was high--214.

“I have to eat like I should, start eating health foods like fish. . . . I should stop eating candy and the bad foods . . . eggs, cheese, French fries, mayonnaise,” Chrissy said.

Her father, Bill Campbell, said he was impressed with the testing.

“It’s just not something you go to the doctor for--to have your cholesterol checked,” he said.