Nutritional status and blood pressure in adolescent students

Obesity is the main risk factor for arterial hypertension andis associatedwitha higher morbidity, both in the short and long term.

To compare anthropometric and blood pressure indicators in terms of the nutritional status, to verify the relationship between nutritional status and blood pressure, and to establish the prevalence of hypertension in terms of the nutritional status in both male and female adolescents.

Cross-sectional, descriptive study on 499 adolescent students aged 11-15 years old. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), fat percentage, and blood pressure were measured and assessed. The BMI was used to classify participants (normal weight, overweight, obese), and the prevalence of hypertension was determined using values above the 95th percentile.

As per the BMI classification, 81% of girls and 76.5% ofboys had normal weight, 15.7% of girls and 15.5% of boys were overweight, and 3.3% of girls and 8% of boys were obese. As per the blood pressure classification, hypertension was observed in 6.4% of boys and in 9% of girls. A relationship was found between nutritional status and blood pressure (boys: c2= 53.48; girls: c2= 85.21).

Overweight and obese adolescents had more body fat and a higher blood pressure than normal weight adolescents. Also, a relationship was determined betweennutritional status and blood pressure in both male and female students. The higher the BMI, the higher the prevalence of hypertension.