Risk factors associated with high blood pressure in adolescents

Abstract

High levels of arterial blood pressure in childhood and adolescence have been often associated with other cardiovascular risk factors - apart from arterial hypertension in the adult stage of life. The present study aimed at identifying risk factors associated with high blood pressure in adolescents. The subjects were 674 adolescents from public and private schools in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba. These subjects were of both sexes (i.e., 303 boys and 371 girls) and their ages spanned from 14 to 17 years old. By means of a questionnaire, information about the following aspects was gathered: a) socio-demographic status; b) physical activity levels; c) eating habits; d) body mass index; e) consumption of alcohol and smoking. Moreover, measurements of arterial pressure (AP) showed that the prevalence of high AP was 7.4%, being higher in boys (10.2%) when compared with girls (5.1%, p < 0.01). The results of the multivaried analysis indicated that overweight adolescents displayed from five to six times more chance of having high AP than adolescents with light/normal weight (boys: OR = 5.5; CI 95% = 1.11-27.53, and girls: OR = 4.8; CI 95% = 1.51-15.45). The other variables did not seem to be associated with high AP. In this study, among the various risk factors analyzed, body overweight acted out as the only potential risk factor increasing arterial blood pressure in adolescents, irrespective of their sex and age.