Blood pressure of US kids, teens on the rise: study

May 4, 2004

CHICAGO (AFP) - The blood pressure of US youth has climbed alarmingly since the late 1980s, as the nation's waistlines have bulged, said a study released.

Putting on pounds did not explain the whole increase, but researchers pointed to other factors, such as sedentary lifestyles, as part of the equation, according to the paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings were culled from two surveys of 5,582 children. The first was taken in 1988-1994 and another in 1999-2000.

Researchers tracked the nationally representative sample of children and adolescents over a 12-year period. During that time, the volunteers had an average rise of 1.4 points in systolic blood pressure. Their diastolic blood pressure was up an average of 3.3 points.

The percentage of overweight kids jumped 4.6 percent over the period of the study to 16.3 percent of the group.

The changes in blood pressure may seem small, but they could have serious consequences for the future health of this generation of Americans, according to Jeffrey Cutler, a co-author of the paper.

"Previously published data indicate that, for each 1 to 2 millimeter mercury rise in their systolic blood pressure, children face a 10 percent greater risk of developing hypertension as a young adult," he noted.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, the number-one killer of Americans and the chief risk factor for stroke.

Additionally, individuals who are overweight and have high blood pressure are at increased risk for adult-onset, or type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and sleep apnea.

"We want to give our children the best possible start in life," said Barbara Alving, acting director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which commissioned the study. "We need to teach them to be physically active and to follow a heart-healthy eating plan. Otherwise, we may be giving them an early start on heart disease."

The percentage of overweight children in the United States has tripled since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Almost a third (30 percent) of children are now classified as being either overweight or at risk for becoming overweight, while an estimated two-thirds of US adults are either obese or overweight, according to official statistics.

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