BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A recent study
reveals a growing body of evidence connecting growing waistlines to rising
blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems among American children,
researchers reported Monday.
The study, published this week in the American Heart
Association journal Circulation reported researchers looked at data from seven
U.S. government surveys conducted from 1963 to 2002 on youngsters aged 8 to
17.
They looked at trends in blood pressure and
"pre-high" blood pressure adjusted for age as well as variations among ethnic
and racial groups and the impact of increasing obesity on these trends.
They found that each 0.4 inch increase in waist
circumference raised the likelihood of high blood pressure by 10 percent and the
likelihood of pre-high blood pressure by 5 percent.
Pre-high blood pressure was defined as either the
systolic or diastolic blood pressure falling between the 90th percentile and the
95th percentile. High blood pressure was for readings above that.
"The prevalence of high blood pressure and pre-high
blood pressure in children and adolescents showed a downward trend between 1963
and the 1988-94 survey. But the trend began to reverse through 2002," the Heart
Association said in a statement.
Just over 11 percent of children and teens had high
blood pressure in 1980, the Heart Association said. That fell to 2.7 percent in
the 1988-94 survey, but rose to 3.7 percent in the latest survey done in
1999-2002.
(Agencies)
