Reference intervals for six lipid analytes in 8-14 year-old school children from three different ethnical groups in the Hulun Buir area of China.

Background: Reference intervals vary according to gender, age, ethnicity, diet, and other factors. It is therefore recommended that population-specific reference intervals be established. This study investigated reference intervals of blood fat of healthy primary students (8 - 14 years) from Mongolian, Ewenki, and Han ethnicities in Hulun Buir area.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 1,723 children aged 8 - 14 years: 805 boys (46%) and 918 girls (54%) were analyzed for cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (APOAI), and apolipoprotein B (APOB) levels. TC and LDL-C 90 and 75 percentiles were considered as the critical high lipoprotein level and the lipoprotein concentration standard, TG 90 percentiles as high blood triglycerides concentrations, 5 percentiles as HDL-C reference range lower level and 95 percentiles as reference range of APOAI and APOB, the normal lipid reference interval for three ethnic groups of pupils were set up.

Results: There were significant differences between Han and other ethnicities with respect to TC, TG, HDL-C, APOAI, APOB (p < 0.01), but not LDL-C (p > 0.05). There were significant differences in Mongolian and Ewenki ethnicities with respect to LDL-C, HDL-C, APOAI and APOB (p < 0.01), but not TC, TG (p > 0.05). There was significant difference between boys and girls of Han and Mongolian ethnicities in TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, APOAI, APOB lipid levels (p < 0.01); and there was significant difference between boys and girls of Ewenki ethnicity with respect to TG, HDL-C, APOAI, APOB lipid levels (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Reference intervals of serum lipid parameters blood fat for healthy Mongolian, Ewenki, and Han ethnicities of primary students in Hulun Buir are presented, which provide an important update for lipid markers and suggest earlier incidence of hypercholesterolemia when comparing to previous ranges.