Cross-Sectional Height-Specific Changes in Serum Lipid Concentrations in Cameroon Children

Background: Information on the relationship between height and changes in serum lipids in children is scarce in Cameroon. The aim of this study is to determine prevalence of dyslipidemia with respect to age and gender and assess the association between height increase and serum lipid changes in Cameroon children. Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional analysis included 472 boys and 534 girls between the ages of 5 and 16 years. Body height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) of children were measured and z-scores calculated. Total cholesterol-TC, triglycerides-TG, low density lipoprotein cholesterol-LDL-C and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol-HDL-C concentrations in fasting blood samples were determined by enzymatic method using an automated clinical chemistry analyzer (RX Monaco, UK). Children were divided into increasing quartiles of height z-score. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to compare mean lipid concentrations across quartiles of height z-score after controlling for age, gender, body weight, WC and fasting blood glucose. Results: The prevalence of elevated TC and LDL-C were respectively 18.5% and 19.2% higher in girls than boys. Also, the prevalence of elevated TC and TG was highest among younger (5- to 9-year-old) girls and boys respectively. There was a significant decrease in mean TC (168.8 to 127.2 mg/dl; p < 0.001), TG (99.0 to 84.1 mg/dl; p = 0.019) and LDL-C (91.1 to 69.4 mg/dl; p = 0.018) in boys; and a significant decrease in mean TC (171.2 to 144.7 mg/dl; p = 0.004) and HDL-C (62.8 to 28.7 mg/dl; p < 0.001) in girls with increasing quartiles of height z-score. However, the decrease in HDL-C in boys (p = 0.053) and the decrease in TG (p = 0.211) and LDL-C (p = 0.732) in girls with increasing height were not significant. Conclusion: Serum lipids decreased with increasing height after controlling for different variables. This study indicates that short children have higher serum lipid concentrations and this may increase the risk of lipid disorders, which may persist into adulthood.