(Hypertension. 2000;36:165.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Scientific Contributions |
Blood Pressure Is Associated With Body Mass Index in Both Normal and Obese Children
From the Department of Paediatrics, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, China (Q.H., J.K.); Beijing Research Institute of Pediatrics, Bejing Children’s Hospital, China (Q.H., Z.Y.D); and The Clinical Trials Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, China (D.Y-T.F., J.K.).
Correspondence to Johan Karlberg, MD, PhD, Department of Paediatrics, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, PR China. E-mail jpekarl{at}hkucc.hku.hk
Abstract—Obesity is associated
with elevated blood pressure (BP) both in adults and children.
Childhood obesity has become a severe health problem, especially during
the last few decades. So far there has not been any large-scale study
specifically focusing on the association between obesity and BP in
early life. The aim of this study is to examine systematically the
association between obesity and BP in preschool Chinese children in
mainland China. In 1996, measurements of weight, height, and BP values
were collected in a nationwide, case-control study of 748 boys and 574
girls who ranged in age from 0.1 to 6.9 years in 8 cities in mainland
China. One obese child and 1 nonobese child were matched for gender and
age. The BP differences of the mean-matched pair were 
5
mm Hg for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 4 mm Hg
for diastolic blood pressure (DBP)
(P<0.05); a higher value was noted in obese children.
The BP value of 19.4% children in the obese group and 7.0% children
in the nonobese group was higher than the 95th percentile value
(P<0.0001), which is defined as high BP by the Task
Force on Blood Pressure Control in Children. Both SBP and DBP were
significantly (P<0.05) positively related to body mass
index (BMI) values (P<0.05) for children in obese and
nonobese groups after adjustment for age, gender, and height. To be
specific, an increase of 1 BMI unit was associated with, on average, an
increase of 0.56 mm Hg and 0.54 mm Hg in SBP and DBP,
respectively, for obese children. In nonobese children, the increase in
SBP and DBP was 1.22 mm Hg and 1.20 mm Hg, respectively. An
increase in the BMI is conclusively associated with elevated SBP and
DBP in nonobese children. Furthermore, an increase in the adjusted BMI
was associated with an increase in SBP and DBP in obese and
nonobese children.
Key Words: obesity • blood pressure • children • race • body mass index
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