Elevated Blood Pressure and Obesity in Childhood: A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of 4,609 Schoolchildren

Abstract

Background:The incidence of obesity in children is increasing worldwide, primarily in urbanized, high-income countries, and hypertension development is a detrimental effect of this phenomenon.Objective:In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the prevalence of excess weight and its association with high blood pressure (BP) in schoolchildren.Methods:Here 4,609 male and female children, aged 6 to 11 years, from 24 public and private schools in Maringa, Brazil, were evaluated. Nutritional status was assessed by body mass index (BMI) according to cutoff points adjusted for sex and age. Blood pressure (BP) levels above 90th percentile for gender, age and height percentile were considered elevated.Results:The prevalence of excess weight among the schoolchildren was 24.5%; 16.9% were overweight, and 7.6% were obese. Sex and socioeconomic characteristics were not associated with elevated BP. In all age groups, systolic and diastolic BP correlated with BMI and waist and hip measurements, but not with waist-hip ratio. The prevalence of elevated BP was 11.2% in eutrophic children, 20.6% in overweight children [odds ratio (OR), 1.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.61-2.45], and 39.7% in obese children (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 4.23-6.89).Conclusion:Obese and overweight children had a higher prevalence of elevated BP than normal-weight children. Our data confirm that the growing worldwide epidemic of excess weight and elevated BP in schoolchildren may also be ongoing in Brazil.

O sobrepeso e a obesidade não estão associados com a pressão arterial elevada em jovens praticantes de esportes

“…With regard to the participants who practiced sports, the prevalence of HBP was similar in young people who were overweight and obese compared to the eutrophic participants (17.1 and 18.2 vs 15.5%). In the adjusted analysis, young people who were overweight and obese in the total sample and those who did not practice sports showed a prevalence ratio of HBP which ranged from 1.60 to 2.15 higher than their eutrophic counterparts, results that corroborate those in previous studies [9][10][11]18,22,26 . No significant associations were found for young people who practice sports.…”

“…The results of the present study corroborated previous studies that indicated no association between practicing sports and HBP in young Brazilians 9,11,[21][22][23] . As already mentioned, the main determinant of HBP in young people is being overweight and obese 25 , and overweight young people are more likely to present HBP [9][10][11]18,22,26 . Thus, a similar proportion of overweight and obese young people in both strata of sports practice may explain why the the prevalence of HBP was also similar.…”

“…Among other associated factors, the conditions of being overweight and obese are considered to be the determing factors of HBP because they trigger several physiological mechanisms that result in HBP in young people 25 . For this reason, overweight young people are 1.66 to 4.30 while obese are 5.19 to 5.40 more likely to have HBP compared to eutrophic [9][10][11]18,22,26 . The studies that are available in the literature have not investigated the association between overweight and obesity with HBP according to sports practice.…”

“…Of the 21 studies included in the review, 12 reported a prevalence of HBP higher than 10% 8 . Studies conducted after the aforementioned systematic review reported a prevalence of HBP ranging from 12.4 to 19.4% [9][10][11] .…”

<b>Relação entre estado nutricional e síndrome metabólica em adolescentes do semiárido piauiense<b>

“…Esses números variam muito, já que diferentes critérios são utilizados para a definição deste diagnóstico (14,15) . Neste estudo foi utilizado Cook et al (4) para valores de referência e foi possível observar que, uma associação entre a SM e as variáveis sexo e idade não foi influenciável suficientemente para alterar o estado metabólico do organismo adolescente.…”