[Risk factors in juveniles. Indications of cardiovascular risk in higher-grade school children of Cologne].

During the last years several studies on the cardiovascular risk-profile of children and adolescents have been started. About 6000 pupils between 15 and 19 years of age have been examined in a cross-sectional investigation in Cologne 1975. One third of them underwent a reexamination in 1976 (80% of the eligible population). The results of the 1975-survey indicate that between 5 and 15% of these adolescents show the following risk-factors in varying combinations: systolic blood pressure above 140 mmHg, cholesterol above 225 mg/100 ml, uric acid above 7 mg/100 ml, smoking of more than 20 cigarettes per day, Broca-weight-index of more than 1,0. The gross partial correlation factors indicate a relatively close association between systolic blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. Some of the risk-factors in adolescents can probably be traced throughout longer periods, thus systolic blood pressure was measured repeatedly in high categories for the same individuals (with a predicitve value of about 50%). The Cologne-study is to be continued for high risk-groups as a long-time-follow-up study.