A Comparative Analysis of Lipid Profile among Rural and Urban School Going Male Adolescents in Katsina State, Nigeria

Aim: The study is aimed at analyzing blood samples from 484 male school going adolescents; of which 263 were randomly selected from a public school in Katsina metropolis (urban setting) and 221 from a public school in Batsari (rural setting) for the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-CH), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-CH) and triacyl glycerol (TG) in order to ascertain a risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Study Design: A cross sectional study was conducted among male adolescents from urban and rural settings aged between 12-18 years attending public secondary schools in Katsina State- Nigeria to assess their nutritional status.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry, Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria. December 2008-April 2009.

Methodology: We determined the body mass index (BMI) and lipid profile of male school going adolescents. An end point colorimetric method was used to estimate serum total cholesterol. Test kits obtainable from Randox Laboratories Limited were used to estimate serum HDL-cholesterol, serum LDL-cholesterol and triacyl glycerol. Results obtained are presented as mean±standard deviation. Statistical analyses were carried out using Instat statistical package.

Results: The results indicate that the urban male adolescents have a significantly higher (p<0.05) mean BMI, mean serum TC, mean serum LDL-CH and mean serum TG values than the rural male adolescents. This difference cuts across all age groups. Mean BMI values recorded for both the rural and urban male adolescents correspond to mild thinness on the BMI reference scale.

Conclusion: The nutritional and health status of the adolescent subjects in this study reflects a high percentage of underweight and a low risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).