Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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The places where a child lives and attends to school are both major environmental and social determinants of its present and future health status. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and some of their risk factors among child and adolescent populations are obesity and dyslipidemia, so finding the patterns of distribution of these risk factors by gender, type of school, area, and margination level is important to do health intervention focusing in their necessities to prevent diseases at younger ages. Because of that, a cross-sectional study was performed among elementary and junior high school students from public and private schools in six of the seven areas of the metropolitan zone of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. ⋯ There were differences in the levels of high-density protein between the areas and the type of school where they had been studied. Finally, a total of 150 students (39.4%) had at least one altered lipid value and 103 participants (26.9%) had two altered values. Several students, despite their young age, showed a high prevalence of risk factors, so it is important to design programs according to their necessities.