Open Journal of Pediatrics, 2015, 5, 141-146 Published Online June 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojped http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojped.2015.52021 How to cite this paper: Meral, G., Uslu, A., Yozgatli, A.Ü. and Akçay, F. (2015) Association of Body Mass Index and Lipid Pro- files in Children. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 5, 141-146. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojped.2015.52021 Association of Body Mass Index and Lipid Profiles in Children Gülsen Meral 1* , Ayşegül Uslu 1 , Ali Ünsal Yozgatli 2 , Faruk Akçay 1 1 Department of Children Health and Disease, Kagithane State Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Kagithane State Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey Email: * gulsenmeral@drgulsenmeral.com , ayseguluslu1@yahoo.com.tr , unsalyoz@hotmail.com , farukakcay@mynet.com Received 14 April 2015; accepted 31 May 2015; published 2 June 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract We examined the lipid values of obese and normal-weight children, to look if there is an associa- tion between Body Mass Index (BMI) and lipid profiles. Our study group included 100 volunteers (50 children with normal BMI and 50 with high BMI) who were admitted to Kagithane State Hos- pital Pediatrics Clinic for various reasons between July 2010 and May 2011. The inclusion criteria were as follows: age between 2 and 14 years, no chronic disease and no developmental defects. The high BMI group had significantly higher Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) levels in comparison to the normal BMI group (p < 0.05). We also found that the high BMI group had higher cholesterol levels close to upper limit than the normal BMI group. We found high triglyceride levels not only in the high BMI group but also in the normal BMI group with a rate of 26% and 24% respectively. The difference of 2% was not significant. We advise that identification and treatment of elevated LDL cholesterol levels is of tremendous significance for obese children or adolescents for future car- diovascular disease risk in adulthood. In the light of these findings, we must not overlook cardi- ovascular risk in the normal BMI group children. We believe that necessary precautions must be taken for preventing overweight and dyslipidemia in early childhood. Accordingly, it is of para- mount importance not only to reduce obesity in children and adolescents but also to monitor dys- lipidemia in normal BMI children to avoid the subsequent risk for cardiovascular disease. Keywords Body Mass Index, Children, Cholesterol, Dyslipidemia 1. Introduction Overall the global prevalence rate of obesity is 3.3% reportedly. Some countries especially in Middle East, Latin * Corresponding author.