Obesity and elevated blood pressure among adolescents in Lagos, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood obesity and associated hypertension are major public health concerns globally. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity and the associated risk of high blood pressure among Nigerian adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional school-based study of 885 apparently healthy adolescents was performed. Weight, height and blood pressure (BP) were measured using standard methods. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and categorized by age, sex and percentile. Obesity and overweight were defined as: ≥ 95th and 85th to < 95th percentiles, respectively, for age, sex and height. Subjects were sub-categorized into age 10–13 years (A) and 14–17 years (B). The odds ratio for pre-hypertensive and hypertensive range BP by age and BMI were generated. Significance was set at P < 0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity were 13.8% and 9.4%, respectively. The prevalence of hypertensive range systolic BP in obese versus normal BMI females was 16% versus 23% (p=0.00) and 12.1% versus 6.4% (p=0.27) in males. The prevalence of hypertensive range diastolic BP in obese versus normal BMI females was 12% versus 1.4% (p=0.00) and 15.2% versus 3.5% (p=0.01) in males. BMI in group B was significantly associated with pre-hypertensive and hypertensive range systolic BP in overweight (P = 0.01, P = 0.002) and obese subjects (P = 0.00, P = 0.00) and with hypertensive range diastolic BP (P = 0.00) only in obese subjects. The only significant association in group A was between obesity and pre-hypertensive range diastolic BP (P = 0.00).ConclusionThe prevalence of hypertensive range BP among obese Nigerian adolescents was high. Screening for childhood obesity and hypertension, and long-term follow-up of obese adolescents into adulthood are recommended.

Physical activity, body mass index and blood pressure in primary school pupils attending private schools

“…The prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension was significantly higher in the children with overweight/ obesity compared to those with healthy weight. The finding is congruent with other similar studies 5,10 . The influence of body mass on BP was further demonstrated in this study in that the pupils who were overweight or obese had a 4-fold risk of having hypertension compared to those with healthy weight.…”

“…The prevalence of elevated BP in the range of pre-hypertension and hypertension in the current study is consistent with previous studies in Nigeria 5,10 . The prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension was significantly higher in the children with overweight/ obesity compared to those with healthy weight.…”

“…The prevalence of overweight and obesity in this study of 15.3% and 18.4% respectively is higher than the figures obtained from most studies within [3][4][5]10 and outside 1,6 Nigeria. The high figure in the present study may have been due to the fact that only children from private schools who were predominantly from the high socio-economic class were recruited for the study.…”

“…The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States is between 13 and 14%. 2 In Nigeria, several studies have reported prevalence between 0.3% and 9.4% amongst children and adolescents [3][4][5] . The increasing burden of overweight and obesity has been ascribed to low level of physical activity among other factors in children 6 .…”

A Study on the Prevalence of Prehypertension and Hypertension and its Association with Obesity in Adolescents [Adolesanlarda Prehipertansiyon ve Hipertansiyon Prevalansi ile Obezite Arasindaki Iliskinin Incelenmesi]

“…Kalıcı çocukluk çağı hipertansiyonu, gelecekteki yetişkin hipertansiyonun, kardiyovasküler hastalıkların ve erken ölümlerin habercisidir [3]. Dünya genelinde çocuklardaki hipertansiyon prevalansı, kan basıncı referans verilerinin dağılımı ve kan basıncı ölçüm metodolojisi ve yüksek kan basıncı tanımındaki bölgesel farklılıklar nedeniyle bilinmemektedir.…”