Holmes, Laurens Jr.LaHurd, AlexWasson, EmilyMcClarin, LavishaDabney, Kirk2016-10-132016-10-13Copyright2015-12-23Holmes, Laurens, et al. "Racial and Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Association Between Total Cholesterol and Pediatric Obesity." International journal of environmental research and public health 13.1 (2015): 19.1661-7827 ; e- 1660-4601http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/19807Publisher's PDFTotal cholesterol (TC) directly correlates with overweight/obesity, but it remains unclear if this association varies by race and ethnicity. We assessed the association as well as the racial/ethnic heterogeneity in this relationship. Data on 63,863 children were assessed using electronic medical records between 2010 and 2011. A cross-sectional design was utilized with log-binomial regression model and chi-squared statistic to examine the data. Overall, abnormal total cholesterol (ATC) was 7.5% (4812). Significant racial variability in ATC was observed: Black/African American (AA) (7.4%), White (7.0%), Asian (5.1%) and some other race (SOR) children (11.3%), 2 (5) = 141.5, p < 0.0001. Black/AA (34.7%) and SOR children (41.2%) were predominantly overweight/obese, unlike the Asian children, (25.8%), 2 (5) = 324.6, p < 0.0001. The BMI percentile was highest among SOR (69.0 28.6) and Black/AA children (65.2 29.1), but lowest among Asian children (55.7 31.5). A significant racial variability was also observed in weight, with the highest mean among Black/AA children (36.8kg 23.0) and the lowest among Asian children (28.7kg 16.8), f = 7.2, p < 0.001. Relative to normal TC, children with ATC were 2.6 times as likely to have abnormal BMI, relative risk (RR) =2.60, 99% CI, 2.54–2.68). Compared to non-Hispanic (RR = 2.62, 99% CI, 2.54–2.69), the risk was lower among Hispanics (RR = 2.34, 99%, 2.21–2.48). Among children with ATC, risk for abnormal BMI was highest among Asians, adjusted RR = 2.91, 99% CI, 2.34–3.62), intermediate among AA (ARR = 2.68, 99% CI, 2.59–2.77), but lowest among Whites (ARR = 2.40, 99% CI, 2.39–2.64), and SOR (ARR = 2.33, 99% CI, 2.19–2.50). In a large sample of children, total cholesterol directly correlates with BMI, with an observed racial and ethnic heterogeneity.en-USCC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Articledoi:10.3390/ijerph13010019