Childhood obesity and hypertension
Written by:Hypertension can begin in the first years of life, because the risk of obese children having hypertension is multiplied by four compared with normal weight children. This has been shown by a study presented at the scientific sessions of the congress on hypertension that is being held by the American Heart Association (AHA).
In particular, the work has followed the growth and blood pressure of 1,117 children for 27 years. Now, of those children, 6% of those with normal weight have hypertension, 14% of those who in their childhood were overweight and 26% of those who suffered from obesity .
The relationship between childhood obesity and hypertension is clear. So Dr. Sara E. Watson, author of the study, recalled: "It is important that pediatricians advise their patients about the risk of hypertension associated with overweight, obesity and stress , and that a healthy diet - including the reduction of salt intake and exercise- can help reduce this risk. "
Consequences of hypertension
Dr. Empar Lurbe, who directs a research group on the consequences of childhood obesity in the Network Research Center of the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn), has spoken along the same lines.. Lurbe has also warned that " hypertension has a number of repercussions, both at the level of blood vessels and at the level of the heart or at the level of the kidney ."
Lurbe also recalled that "hypertension is considered when the child has a continuous systolic and / or diastolic pressure above the 95th percentile in relation to their sex, age and height."
