Effects of two years' educational intervention on dietary habits, serum cholesterol and blood pressure among 13 to 15 year old adolescents. The North Karelia youth project.
A school and community based intervention to influence CVD risk factors and promote health in 13 to 15 year old children was carried out in North Karelia, Finland. The intervention was at two levels: 1) an intensive intervention in two schools and 2) a county-wide intervention in the remaining schools. Three pairs of matched schools were evaluated the two intensive intervention schools, two schools representing the county-wide intervention and two reference county schools. 851 children, their parents and teachers were studied before the intervention (1978) and after the intervention in 1980. The effect of intervention on serum and HDL-cholesterol, blood pressure and dietary habits is reported in this paper. The intervention had effect on fat use in both sexes and on total serum cholesterol in girls. Although there were some reported changes in the salt consumption in the desired direction these had no effect on blood pressure levels.