Cardiovascular risk factors in children

Systemic hypertension is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Early diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in childhood can potentially have a significant impact on future adverse outcomes.

To investigate the relationship of diastolic (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) with anthropometric data and area of residence of children in municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

This is a cross-sectional study of 709 children between six and nine years of age. Blood pressure, weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Statistical tests had a maximum significance level of 5% (p≤0.05) and the software used was SPSS version 13.0.

Obesity was significantly associated with pre-hypertension, and stage 1 and 2 hypertension as assessed by DBP and SBP (≤0.05); high WC was significantly associated with a classification of pre-hypertension and stage 1 hypertension based on DBP and a classification of stage 1 and 2 hypertension based on SBP (≤0.01).

Children living in urban areas had significantly higher mean SBP than those living in rural areas. Those with high WC presented higher SBP and DBP compared to children with normal WC. Obese children showed higher mean SBP and DBP compared to those who were overweight or normal weight and mean SBP and DBP also increased with older age and higher mean body mass index and WC.