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Another advantage of using BMI-for-age to screen for overweight or at
risk of overweight in children is that it correlates with clinical risk
factors for cardiovascular disease including hyperlipidemia, elevated
insulin, and high blood pressure. Freedman and colleagues* used data from
the Bogalusa Heart Study and found that approximately 60% of 5- to 10
year-old children who were overweight had at least one biochemical or
clinical risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as those just
mentioned, and 20% had two or more risk factors.*
We know that risk factors in children become chronic diseases in
adults. BMI-for-age during pubescence is related to lipid and lipoprotein
levels and blood pressure in middle age.
*Freedman et al., The relation of overweight to cardiovascular risk
factors among children and adolescents: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
Pediatrics 1999;103:1175–1182.
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