title: High blood pressure in obese and nonobese Japanese children: blood pressure measurement is necessary even in nonobese Japanese children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the prevalences of obesity and hypertension (HT) are increasing in children, there have been few epidemiological studies of HT in Japanese children. We evaluated the prevalences of HT and high-normal blood pressure (HNBP), and examined the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI), in Japanese children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects of this study were 2420 children living in the town of Ina, Saitama Prefecture, Japan during the period from 2006 through 2008. Body height, weight, and BP were measured. HT and HNBP were defined according to the HT criteria for Japanese children. Children with HNBP or HT were defined as having high blood pressure (HBP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalences of HBP were 15.9% and 15.8% in fourth-grade boys and girls, respectively, and 11.1% and 10.8% in seventh-grade boys and girls, respectively. Irrespective of sex or grade level, a higher BMI was associated with a higher prevalence of HBP (P < 0.001). When compared with the <50th percentile BMI category, the crude odds ratios (ORs) were statistically significant for the 75th to 84th percentile category in fourth-grade boys (OR: 4.54, 95% CI: 2.36-8.76), the ≥95th percentile in fourth-grade girls (13.29, 5.93-29.77), the 85th to 94th percentile (3.16, 1.46-6.84) in seventh-grade boys, and the ≥95th percentile (7.96, 3.18-19.93) in seventh-grade girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMI was associated with HBP in Japanese school children. In addition, some children in the lower BMI categories also had HBP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Showa University School of Medicine, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan. shirasawa@med.showa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirasawa
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: Tadahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohtsu
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.forename: Rimei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: Akatsuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kokaze
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence