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Background: Environmental factors in early stages of life may contribute to adult cardiovascular disease. We have examined certain anthropometric and biochemical variables in children aged 6-7 years from four Spanish provinces with high differences in mortality due to ischemic heart disease (IHD). Patients and method: We performed a cross-sectional survey of 1,255 children (50.3% males) attending schools in Cádiz and Murcia ¿provinces with a relatively high IHD mortality¿ and Madrid and Orense ¿provinces with a relatively low IHD mortality. Weight, body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of obesity were analyzed, and plasma glucose and lipid levels were measured by standardized methods. Results: Compared with children in the two low-IHD-mortality provinces, those in the two high-IHD-mortality provinces had greater weight (p < 0.05) and BMI (p < 0.01) and higher prevalence of obesity (p < 0.01). Moreover, they had significantly higher (p < 0.01) plasma glucose, triglyceride and apo A-I levels. Conclusions: The higher prevalence of overweight and obesity, along with higher plasma glucose and triglyceride levels, in provinces with high coronary artery disease mortality indicates that children from these provinces are metabolically different from those in provinces with low coronary artery disease mortality. These alterations may thus contribute to the different IHD mortality in adulthood.
