INTRODUCTION: In our region, the recent available studies on dyslipidemias during childhood show the increase of a silent epidemic that, in future years, can worsen the morbidity and mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases. The lack of standard normal range values for Brazilian population has lead authors to make use of values from other countries, in particular, the III DBSD (initials in Portuguese for Brazilin Guidelines on Dyslipidemias, 2001), that is transcripted from National Cholesterol Education Program-NCEP (USA, 1992). OBJECTIVE: To establish normal range values for triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (CT) and its fractions in students from two to nine years old from Maracaí city (SP, Brazil). METHODS: Transverse delineation. A total of 1,202 lipidic profiles of students from six schools (five public schools and one private school), in the two- to nine-year-old age range were evaluated. The tests were conducted between March 25th and October 8th 2002. The tests were made through enzymatic reactions in order to determine the TG, and CT by using Johnson & Johnson kits, dry chemistry methodology, with Vitros 750 auto-analyzer. Magnetic reagents (dextran sulfate and magnesium chloride from Johnson & Johnson) were used for the LDL-c and VLDL-c precipitation and the ensuing enzymatic determination for the HDL-c. The LDL-c value was reached through the Friedewald equation for TG lower than 400mg/dl; results greater than this were determined with Merck CHOD-PAP kits with photometric reading. RESULTS: From these tests, 266 were excluded and 936 cases were analyzed. The values obtained in the studied samples differ from the normal range values recommended by the III DBSD. The largest variations in results from Maracaí, in relation to those in the III DBSD, were found at the 95th percentiles for TG: 130mg/dl (a + 30% variation); at the 75th percentiles of LDL-c: 101,1mg/dl (a -8,1% variation); at the 5th percentiles of HDL-c: 34mg/dl (a -15% variation). DISCUSSION: Normal values transcripted from other countries do not take into account the socio-economic, ethnic differences and eating habits of Brazilian population. So, the epidemiological studies in our region may contain unwanted tendencies of measurement. In clinical practice, the use of normal range values from other countries for this age group, in particular for TG, can cause additional unnecessary investigations and irreparable damages to children's development, in case clumsy interventions are adopted through low-calorie diets or, even worse, through drug prescription of medicines. CONCLUSION: The normal range values from the school children sampled in Maracaí, in the two- to nine-year-old age range differ from those recommended by the III DBSD. This fact enhances the need to make similar investigations in other regions of the country in order to establish a Brazilian standard for the normal range values for TG and CT and its fractions.
Lipid profile; Normal range; Childhood; Cholesterol; Triglycerides; Dyslipidemia
