Paediatrica Indonesiana
VOLUME 48 September 
Association between obesity and lipid profile
in children 10-12 years of age
Ruqoyatul Himah, Endy P. Prawirohartono, Madarina Julia
Abstract
Background Worldwide prevalence of obesity in children has
been increasing. Together with dyslipidemia and hypertension,
obesity is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity
later in life.
Objective The aim of this study was to assess association
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old children.
Methods We performed a cross sectional study on 53 obese and
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Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) at or above the
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were measured. Dyslipidemia was defined as increased level of
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Results Obese children had higher risk of increased level of
NUMBER 5
Original Article
O
besity has become a serious health
problem in many countries worldwide, in
both developed and developing countries.
The increase of obesity prevalence has
been associated with the advanced technology and
imbalance of eating habits.
Obesity is a serious problem because it is
associated with increased risk of cardiovascular
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3 2YHUDOOUHODWLYHULVNIRUG\VOLSLGHPLDLQREHVH coronary heart disease later in life, i.e. hypertension,
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Conclusion&RPSDUHGWRQRQREHVHFKLOGUHQREHVHFKLOGUHQKDYH of children with obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension
higher risk of dyslipidemia, particularly hypertriglyceridemia and and one of whose parents suffered from coronary
K\SR+'/[Paediatr Indones 2008;48:257-60]. heart disease before the age of 55 years, suffered
from coronary heart disease in their twenties. We
Keywords: obesity, hypercholesterolemia, dyslipidemia,
hypertriglyceridemia

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Paediatr Indones, Vol. 48, No. 5, September 2008257

 Ruqoyatul Himah et al: Lipid profiles in obese children
conducted this study to assess the association between
obesity and occurrence of dyslipidemia in children
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Methods
We conducted a cross sectional study during April to
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in school children in 14 public elementary schools
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sex. The protocol of the study was approved by the
Ethical Committee of Gadjah Mada University.
We defined obesity based on body mass index
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obese group showed prevalence ratio of 18 and
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and hypertriglyceridemia, respectively (Table 2).
Occurrence of dyslipidemia in the obese group was 5
WLPHVKLJKHUWKDQLQWKHQRQREHVHJURXSTable 3).
Discussion
Obesity is associated with increased accumulation of
body fat, which in turn stimulates lipolysis and lipid
turnover. Increased amount of glycerol and free fatty
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availability of free fatty acid stimulates gluconeogenesis
which is associated with resistance to insulin and
increased hepatic secretion of LDL. Resistance to
insulin is associated with increased level of hepatic
lipase and decreased level of lipoprotein lipase. All of
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at 95th or above were classified as obese, while those
were below the 95th percentile were classified as not
obese. BMI was defined as body weight in kilogram
divided by square of height in meter. Body weights
were measured with a digital scale with accuracy of
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only in their uniform, without shoes or hat.
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DiaSys kit. Results of the laboratory test were assessed
based on the criteria for hyperlipidemia by National
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Children,8 as shown in Table 1. The difference in the
these, ultimately, end in increased level of triglyceride,
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Lipid levels depend on many factors, e.g.
age, gender, race, nutritional status, nutritional
intake and environmental factors. Association
between hypercholesterolemia and obesity had been
reported. Tran reported that increase in body weight
was associated with increase in blood cholesterol
levels.13 Increased calorie intake in obese children
is also associated with hypercholesterolemia and
hypertriglyceridemia.11
In this study we found that the prevalence of lipid
profile abnormality in obese children was higher than
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by Threshakovec.
Risk of hypertriglyceridemia in obese group in
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those observed by Freedman3 who found that the
Results REHVHKDGULVNRIK\SHUWULJO\FHULGHPLDWLPHVKLJKHU
WKDQWKHQRQREHVH3 The difference with our study
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258Paediatr Indones, Vol. 48, No. 5, September 2008

 Ruqoyatul Himah et al: Lipid profiles in obese children

Table 1. Normal level of cholesterol and triglyceride in children8

Total cholesterol LDL-cholesterol Triglyceride HDL-cholesterol Interpretation
( mg/dL) ( mg/dL) ( mg/dL) ( mg/dL)

< 170 < 110 < 125 > 35 Normal

    Abnormal

Table 2.KRKFRTQNGUKPQDGUGCPFPQPQDGUGITQWRU
Obese Non obese Prevalence ratio P
( n = 53) ( n = 53 ) (95% CI)
Total cholesterol :
OIF. 40 32 1.3 0.10
< 170 mg/dL 13 21 ( 0.95 to 1.63)
LDL Cholesterol :
OIF. 34 29 1.2 0.32
< 110 mg/dL 19 24 ( 0.85 to 1.61)
HDL Cholesterol :
OIF. 8 0 17.8 0.003*
> 35 mg/dL 45 53 (13.98 to 20.11)
Triglyceride :
OIF. 34 13 2.6 0.001
< 125 mg/dL 19 40 (1.57 to 4.37)
* Fishers exact Test

Tabel 3. Prevalence of dyslipidemia* in obese and non-obese children

Dyslipidemia Non dyslipidemia Prevalence Ratio P
(95% CI)
Obese 2 51 5.2 0.002**
Non Obese 0 53 (4.16; 5.85)
* Dyslipidemia : hypercholesterolemia, hypertrglyceridemia, hyper LDL-cholesterol and hypo HDL-cholesterol
** Fishers exact test

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cholesterol in obese group in our study was 18 times
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was higher than that observed by Kim, i.e. 4.1 times.14
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The definition of dyslipidemia according to
In conclusion, we observed that obese children
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recommend routine screening for lipid level in children
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This study showed that the obese group had the risk
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group. This increased risk was higher than those
observed by Boyd,15 who found that the obese group
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obese group.
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