Prevalence of hyperlipidemia among Saudi school children in Riyadh.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) constitutes one of the main health problems in Saudi Arabia, but little is known on the lipid profile of the juvenile population.

Methods: We measured the prevalence of high-risk levels of serum lipids in 1390 boys and girls, aged 9 or 12 years, in Riyadh city.

Results: High-risk levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG) and triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein (TC/HDL) cholesterol ratio were found in 32.