Epidemiological studies of blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in a school-age population of Veneto.

During the school year 1974-75 serum cholesterol has been evaluated in the whole school population (520 subjects, 268 males and 252 females, age ranging from 6 to 14 years) of Saccolongo, a village which is about 20 kilometers from Padova (Italy) and serum triglycerides have been further evaluated in a random population of 161 subjects (90 males and 71 females, age ranging from 6 to 11 years). Serum cholesterol values did not show any significant difference between males and females. Analysis of serum cholesterol in the various age groups revealed that it was significantly higher in females at age 6 (t = 2.2296; p less than 0.05). A significant reduction in serum cholesterol values has been found at age 11 both in males (t = 4.7810; p less than 0.001) and in females (t = 5.6134; p less than 0.001). Serum cholesterol and triglycerides values did not correlate (r = 0.404). Serum triglycerides were higher in girls than in boys (t = 2.1360; p less than 0.05). Analysis of the serum triglycerides values in the various age groups were constant in males (F = 0.4161) and inconstant in females (F = 3.8844; p less than 0.01) where age groups 8 (t = 3.5127; p less than 0.005) and 11 (t = 3.5238; p less than 0.005) showed higher than normal values.