Institute of Public Health, University of P. J. Safarik , Košice , Slovakia

1. DIFFERENCE IN BLOOD CHOLESTEROL AND GROWTH PARAMETERS BETWEEN ROMA AND NON-ROMA CHILDREN FROM SLOVAKIA (MEHO) Institute of Public Health, University of P. J. Safarik, Košice, Slovakia This project is funded under the framework of Public Health Programme 2003-2008 of the European Commission (contract number 2005122)

2. Kvetoslava Rimarova, Jan Koval, Annamaria Kecerova University of P.J. Safarik University of Presov Team

3. Introduction • previous research shows unhealthy nutritional • habits (especially fat high intake) and a higher • cardiovascular risk in Roma adults • higher cholesterol level, lower vitamins and • antioxidants level, lower HDL, change in • lipoproteins spectrum

4. some cross/sections studies confirm higher tendency for obesity among Roma and higher abdominal obesity estimated shortage of life expectancy varies from 10 to 15 years in Roma population Introduction 2

5. Material and methods • cross-sectional study included Roma (252) and non-Roma • (1952) schoolchildren from the same vicinity • children were selected from 2 age groups (11 and 17 years) • data collection was provided from primary health pediatric • outpatient G.P. in 2006/2009 • basic anthropometric measurement and total cholesterol • measurement “TCH” (2005 - 2008) • as Roma were defined children living in Roma settlements • or in areas with a compact Roma population • statistical analysis was performed in SPSS with ANOVA, • GLM and regression model

6. Differences between Roma and Non-Roma in measured parameter in 11 years *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

7. Differences between Roma and Non-Roma in measured parameter in 17 years *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

8. Table 3. Linear regression for selected health parameters *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

9. Results • Roma children have statistically a lower body weight, • height and also a lower TCH (p<0.001) • the differences are more pronounced in the 11 years group • the differences were larger with respect to height than with • respect to weight • levels of TCH are significantly lower in all age and sex • groups of Roma, except in 17 years boys • regression model and GLM confirmed the dependence of • TCH on age, gender, body height, weight, BMI and sex • no relationship was confirmed with length of breastfeeding

10. Conclusions the results are claiming lower anthropometric parameters and thus of growth retardation in Roma children. the results also confirmed lower TCH levels in all age and sex groups of Roma children, despite expected and described higher risk of Roma ethnicity for cardiovascular diseases. we assume that body parameters are more important predictors of cholesterol levels in childhood than the other factors.

11. 1. reproductive and pregnancy outcomes study confirmed lower birth weight in Roma, shorter gestational age, lower maternal ager , higher amount of teenage pregnancies among Roma 2. higher smoking prevalence, higher unemployment rate and extremely high differences in educational level among Roma and nonRoma mothers 3. infectious diseases incidence was followed for 10 years and confirmed higher incidence of hepatis A and dysenteria and higher incidence of salmonelosis among infants 4. but salmonelosis in children and adults was lower then in Roma probably due to the underreported cases This paper is supported by grants EU Public Health MEHO, VEGA 1/0451/09 and VEGA 1/4232/07. MEHO conclusions