Lipid and lipoprotein tracking in children.

Prospective studies in adults reveal that CHD risk is continuously related to total and LDL cholesterol levels (positively) and to HDL cholesterol levels (inversely) throughout their entire distribution. Such findings raise the possibility that children who tend to track in the lowest and highest decile for total and LDL cholesterol may mature to become adults respectively at reduced and increased CHD risk. Children who tend to track in the lowest and highest deciles for HDL cholesterol may also mature to become adults respectively at increased and reduced CHD risk. Although the degree of tracking at either extreme of the distribution, and for the group as a whole, appears to have adquate cohesiveness to be useful for prediction of future lipid and lipoprotein levels, individual children at the extremes of the distributions will need to be followed over longer periods of time, to identify the continuity of childhood and adult values, and eventual CHD risk.