Open AccessPREVALENCE OF SOME RISK FACTORS FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN RURAL WESTERN AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN
Author(s) -
Margetts Barrie,
Armstrong Bruce,
Binns Colin,
Masarei John,
McCall Michael
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1983.tb00057.x
Subject(s) - demography , medicine , obesity , body mass index , blood pressure , sitting , pulse rate , mortality rate , body weight , pediatrics , surgery , pathology , sociology
Sitting and standing blood pressures, pulse rate, body height and weight, triceps skinfold thickness and mid‐upper arm circumference were measured in 285 girls and 304 boys of caucasian origin aged 12 or 13 years in six Western Australian country towns. Means, standard deviations and 5th and 95th centiles of these variables and Quetelet's index (weight/height 2 ) are presented in each sex for 12 and 13 year‐olds separately. The mean heights and weights of children in this survey were generally greater than have been recorded in previous surveys of Australian children of the same age. Mean blood pressures, however, were appreciably lower. They were lower also than levels measured in recent surveys in the United States of America, Norway, Greece and Italy. Compared with these four populations, Western Australian children were taller than most, and intermediate with respect to body weight and obesity. Levels of these variables were not noticeably correlated with mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in adults in the same populations. There was some evidence, however, of a relationship between IHD mortality and mean plasma cholesterol levels in children.