Mechanisms for the development of arterial hypertension in overweight adolescents and young adults

Abstract

In recent years, an increase in the number of young people with arterial hypertension (AH) has occurred together with the increased prevalence of obesity. It is generally recognized that obesity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension in adolescents and young adults. In adolescents of non-European ethnicity with a family history of disease, a low birth weight and sedentary lifestyle, and insufficient physical activity and poor sleep quality, excess weight is accompanied by a high probability of AH. High tolerance to cardio-respiratory exertion and a number of genetic polymorphisms can play a protective role against this pathology. Biochemical studies in young people with hypertension and excess weight display a number of features, including levels of hormones and enzymes of the renin-angiotensin system, associated with lipid metabolism and inflammation. Adolescents with hypertension can be included in the group of young people at high risk of damage to affected organs and the subsequent development of cardiovascular diseases, based on a number of characteristics: blood pressure readings, BMI, age, family history and ethnicity.