High prevalence of hypertension in obese children in the Caribbean

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of hypertension in overweight and obese children on Bonaire. As hypertension is a harbinger of cardiovascular disease, early detection and treatment of overweight and obese children is of paramount importance and their blood pressure needs to be measured regularly.

Obesity and hypertensive heart disease: focus on body composition and sex differences

“…This sharp progression of probability is also evident in kids and adolescents [8–10], though a significant decline might be observed in the past 10 years [11]. …”

“…In a Caribbean population based study [10], among 2023 5-to-16 year-old public school students, the prevalence of hypertension was 13% in normal-weight individuals, raising to 23% in overweight and as much as 53% in obese subjects.…”

High rates of child hypertension associated with obesity: a community survey in China, India and Mexico

“…[12][13][14] Recent data from cross-sectional studies in LMICs have shown that obesity increases the risk of hypertension in children, [15][16][17][18] and the odds ratio for hypertension are 2.1 for overweight children, rising to 7.2 for the obese. 19 The diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of childhood hypertension is becoming increasingly important, and the American Society for Hypertension (ASH) has called for universal screening of all children aged §3 years. 20 It is widely recognized that primary hypertension in young people is largely undiagnosed and untreated, 21 and this is especially true in LMICs.…”

Overweight and blood pressure: high time for action

“…Thus Schwiebbe et al's paper in this edition of Paediatrics and International Child Health is to be welcomed since it describes overweight/obesity in more or less the whole schoolchild population of the Caribbean island of Bonaire and then compares the blood pressures of overweight/obese children with those of matched controls. 2 Not surprisingly, overweight/obesity was found to be very common and the prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in the overweight and obese groups. This was true even in the group of children below 10 years of age in whom hypertension might normally be considered unusual.…”