Adolescent obesity adversely affects blood pressure and resting heart rate.
BACKGROUND
Obesity is associated with hypertension (HT) and high resting heart rate (HR), as well as metabolic disturbances. However, little is known about how strongly these hemodynamic abnormalities are associated with the degree of obesity in adolescents.


RESULTS
Height, body weight, resting HR, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured in 20,165 male and 19,683 female high-school students. Adiposity levels were classified into 6 groups by body mass index: group 1 (<20th percentile), group 2 (20th-39.9th percentile), group 3 (40th-59.9th percentile), group 4 (60th-79.9th percentile), group 5 (80th-98.9th percentile), and group 6 (> or =99th percentile). Systolic and diastolic hypertensions were defined as > or =140 mmHg and > or =85 mmHg, respectively. Resting tachycardia was defined as the corresponding 95th percentile or greater. Resting HR and systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased with adiposity level in both sexes (p<0.0001). Both systolic HT and diastolic HT were associated with high resting HR, and the clustering of these unfavorable conditions increased with the degree of obesity.


CONCLUSIONS
Hemodynamic abnormalities, such as HT and a high resting HR, are closely associated with adolescent obesity and are probably explained by impaired autonomic nerve function.
Baba
Reizo
R
Committee for Cardiovascular Screening, Department of School Health, Aichi Medical Association, Nagoya, Japan. babar@aichi-med-u.ac.jp
Koketsu
Masaaki
M
Nagashima
Masami
M
Inasaka
Hiroshi
H
Yoshinaga
Masao
M
Yokota
Mitsuhiro
M
D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003971:Diastole; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012146:Rest; D013599:Systole; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology