High blood pressure common in US teens

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - About one quarter of US 14-year-olds from ethnically diverse backgrounds have high blood pressure, and a substantial proportion have cholesterol and other lipid abnormalities, researchers report.

Their study, in the journal Pediatrics, also found that being overweight is a major problem.

Lead investigator Dr. Russell Jago told Reuters Health that blood samples, blood pressure, heights and weights were obtained from 1717 eighth-grade students from 12 predominantly minority schools in Texas, California and North Carolina.

"Almost 50 percent were overweight or at risk of overweight," he said.

"Overall almost 25 percent of participants had high blood pressure, more than had been reported in prior studies conducted when children were generally less overweight," Jago added. "Many children also had borderline or abnormal cholesterol and blood sugar."

Jago, who is currently at the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues found that 16.7 percent had borderline total cholesterol, 4 percent had high total cholesterol and 17.2 percent had high triglycerides.

"These abnormalities, which in adults are known to be risk factors for heart disease," he continued, "were generally found in the children with elevated weight."

"Though many adolescents do not see their doctors routinely," Jago concluded, "at minimum, adolescents who have even modest weight problems should be screened for the associated disorders such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems."

SOURCE: Pediatrics, June 2006.