Obesity and blood pressure--results from the examination of 2365 schoolchildren in Germany.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between different indices of body fat and blood pressure in children and adolescents.


METHODS
Cross-sectional cohort study along with regular public health service examinations in school classes two, five and nine.


METHODS
A total of 2365 healthy schoolchildren aged 8-16 y.


METHODS
Body mass index (BMI), skinfolds, waist-hip ratio, body fat determined by bioelectric impedance analysis and blood pressure.


RESULTS
In comparison with recently published normative data, a significant increase of obesity was found. There is a higher prevalence of obesity in children with lower education. A positive association between body fat and hypertension was observed in children aged above 10 y. The BMI had the strongest association with blood pressure among the indices of body fat considered here.


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity is an increasing problem even among schoolchildren. This observation should be treated seriously as the relationship of body fat to cardiovascular risk is detectable already at a young age. Attention should be paid to the dependence of obesity on the level of education. The analysis suggests that BMI should be the preferred index to assess body fat. International Journal of Obesity (2003) 27, 1459-1464. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802462
Reich
A
A
1University Hospital for Children and Adolescents Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Müller
G
G
Gelbrich
G
G
Deutscher
K
K
Gödicke
R
R
Kiess
W
W
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment