Sex, social status and ethnic origin in relation to coronary heart disease risk factors in Adelaide schoolchildren

The relationship of several Coronary Heart Disease risk factors to sex, social status and ethnic background was studied in a sample of 539 grade-5 students (10-year-olds) in eight volunteer primary schools in Adelaide. The risk factors examined were: obesity (sum of four skinfolds); blood pressure; fitness (physical work capacity (PWC) 170/kg); and plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Social status differences were negligible for all risk factors. However, differences between the sexes, and between ethnic groups, were marked, particularly in relation to fitness and obesity. Girls carried significantly more body fat than boys, although their height and weight were similar; they were less fit. Their plasma lipid levels and blood pressure, on the other hand, were very similar to those for boys. Values for children whose parents were born in Australia and the United Kingdom were similar for all risk factors. However, children of both sexes whose parents were born in Italy and Greece were fatter and less fit.U