[Reference values for cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose in a population of Hispanic children from 6 to 11 y, in the northern border of Mexico and the United States of America].

Introduction: Overweight and obesity in children in the Mexico-USA border have evolved differently to the rest of their respective countries. New reference values of cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose are required to treatment.

Objective: To determine the reference values of cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose in Hispanic children between 6 and 11 years in the Mexico-USA border.

Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study. A population of Hispanic children between 6 and 11 years of both boys and girls, belonging to three public institutions in the cities of Ensenada and Chihuahua, randomly selected, were studied. The study variables were the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and glucose (G).

Results: From 300 subjects studied just 54 children completed the study. Higher average values of TC (168.7 ± 27.2 mg / dl), TG (80.6 ± 48.4 mg / dl) and G (88.3 ± 8.9 mg / dl) were observed. An additional behavior was founded, never reported previously to the limit of the knowledge of the authors; glucose levels of the children studied decreased with increased of cholesterol and triglycerides. To discard a random relationship between the variables, the Pearson correlation coefficient was determined between waist circumference and BMI, verifying an inverse association with G and direct with the TG.

Conclusion: The reference values for Hispanic children between 6 and 11 years living on the northern border of Mexico-USA differ with respect to the national average values of the countries studied. Further studies are needed in larger populations to confirm the trend ob served in glucose levels of normal children, overweight and obese.