Cardiovascular disease risk in healthy children and its association with body mass index: systematic review and meta-analysis

To describe the association and its magnitude between body mass index category, sex, and cardiovascular disease risk parameters in school aged children in highly developed countries.

Systematic review and meta-analysis. Quality of included studies assessed by an adapted version of the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. Results of included studies in meta-analysis were pooled and analysed by Review Manager version 5.1. DATA SOURCES: Embase, PubMed, EBSCOHost's cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature, and the Web of Science databases for papers published between January 2000 and December 2011. REVIEW METHODS: Healthy children aged 5 to 15 in highly developed countries enrolled in studies done after 1990 and using prospective or retrospective cohort, cross sectional, case-control, or randomised clinical trial designs in school, outpatient, or community settings. Included studies had to report an objective measure of weight and at least one prespecified risk parameter for cardiovascular disease.