[Hypertension in schoolchildren: research carried out in a secondary school in Rome and observations on dietary patterns].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this research was to evaluate the incidence of hypertension in adolescents by assessing their anthropometric measurements and diet, since recent literature data suggest that 30% of obese adolescents are hypertensive.


METHODS
The 293 schoolchildren engaged in the study were aged 11-14 years and 54% were male. They attended a Secondary School in Rome with a middle-high class background. Blood pressure, heart rate, weight, height, tricipital and subscapular skinfolds and body mass index (BMI) were measured and dietary patterns assessed through 24-h recall. The findings were then statistically evaluated.


RESULTS
The incidence of hypertension was 6.5%, without distinction between sexes. On the basis of the statistical evaluation of the correlations between hypertension and obesity, familial hypertension, weaning with the addition of salt and bottle-feeding from birth, only obesity was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). Even though the hypertensive adolescents had a high intake of snacks, salt, meat, sausages and cheese in their daily diet, only the excess of proteins was statistically significant (p<0.05). The incidence of obesity (calculated as being 20% over the ideal weight for a given height) was 17.3%. This finding was confirmed by the mean value of the both skinfolds, whereas BMI, for which obesity and overweight were considered together, showed a slight overestimation of this percentage.


CONCLUSIONS
A high number of hypertensive adolescents was found, about 1/3 of the obese adolescents examined. This confirms the findings of an extensive study previously carried out by the Group of Hypertension of the Italian Society of Pediatrics. From a nutritional point of view, the excessive intake of proteins of the 19 hypertensive adolescents was found to be statistically significant. However, a more extensive study could probably provide further data on other nutrients which, in this case, were not quite statistically significant.
Menghetti
E
E
Dipartimento Scienze Ginecologiche, Perinatologia e Puericultura, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.
D'Addesa
D
D
Censi
L
L
Spagnolo
A
A
Martone
D
D
Cellitti
R
R
Sette
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012384:Rome / Q000453:epidemiology