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To assess the relationship between obesity, body fat distribution, and blood pressure in children and adolescents, various measures of obesity and the waist-to-hip circumference ratio were related to casual and ambulatory blood pressure as measured using a SpaceLabs 90207 monitor during a regular school day. Seventy obese and 70 nonobese children aged 6 to 16 years were included in the study. Regardless of the time period analyzed (24 h, daytime, or nighttime), ambulatory blood pressure and casual blood pressure were significantly higher among the obese children. The differences in systolic blood pressure observed between the groups were attributable to the presence of obesity as estimated by the ponderal index and by skinfold thickness. Similarly, systolic and diastolic loads, as an assessment of high blood pressure values over 24 h, were significantly higher in the obese children when compared to the loads for the nonobese children. Waist-to-hip circumference ratio was independently associated, (in multiple regression analysis) with systolic blood pressure, whether during 24 h, daytime, or nighttime periods, after controlling for age, sex, current height, ponderal index, and tricipital skinfold thickness. This study demonstrates that obesity is a determinant of ambulatory and casual blood pressure. Since obese children with a predominantly abdominal fat mass show higher blood pressure values, evaluation of body fat distribution in children may help to identify subjects more susceptible to developing hypertension later in life.

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