Is presence of hypertension in obese children correlate with the criteria of metabolic syndrome?

Abstract

In this article, we will describe the presence of metabolic syndrome and its components in a group of hypertensive and obese adolescents. The study presented here was conducted on 20 patients (10 boys) presented with complaints of obesity and hypertension who were diagnosed as metabolic syndrome. In 20 patients who were all obese and hypertensive, existence of a third metabolic syndrome component such as glucose intolerance or dyslipidaemia, was 47% and 35% respectively, whereas existence of both was 55%. Only three of the patients carry all of the five criteria of metabolic syndrome. Mean body mass index and mean blood pressure (P=0.021), uric acid (P=0.046) and fasting blood glucose levels (P=0.023) were found statistically significant. Mean blood pressure levels were related with increase at LDL-cholesterol (P=0.029) and increase in fasting blood glucose levels (P=0.04). Prevention of complications by effective measures in the metabolic syndrome patients is also mentioned. We believe that obese and hypertensive children should be screened for the other components of metabolic syndrome. © The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.