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

Background:

The incidence of obesity in children is increasing worldwide, primarily inurbanized, high-income countries, and hypertension development is a detrimentaleffect of this phenomenon.

Objective:

In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the prevalence of excess weight andits association with high blood pressure (BP) in schoolchildren.

Methods:

Here 4,609 male and female children, aged 6 to 11 years, from 24 public andprivate schools in Maringa, Brazil, were evaluated. Nutritional status wasassessed by body mass index (BMI) according to cutoff points adjusted for sex andage. Blood pressure (BP) levels above 90th percentile for gender, age and heightpercentile were considered elevated.

Results:

The prevalence of excess weight among the schoolchildren was 24.5%; 16.9% wereoverweight, and 7.6% were obese. Sex and socioeconomic characteristics were notassociated with elevated BP. In all age groups, systolic and diastolic BPcorrelated 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 overweightchildren [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 thannormal-weight children. Our data confirm that the growing worldwide epidemic ofexcess weight and elevated BP in schoolchildren may also be ongoing in Brazil.