title: High Prevalence of Obesity and High Blood Pressure in Urban Student-Athletes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence of obesity and hypertension-level blood pressures in an urban, athletic adolescent population using preparticipation physical evaluation (PPE) data.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Athlete Health Organization provides free preparticipation physical evaluations to Philadelphia student-athletes via an annual mass-screening event. From 2009 to 2012, Athlete Health Organization personnel performed PPEs on more than 2700 middle school and high school athletes. The PPE included biometric information, a history, and a physical examination. Medical volunteers measured blood pressures using a manual blood pressure cuff with an aneroid manometer. The data from each PPE were collected and analyzed for prevalence of obesity, overweight, and hypertension-level blood pressure readings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A large percentage of student-athletes were found to be overweight (20%) or obese (24.0%). Many of these athletes also had stage 1 or 2 level blood pressure readings (14.8%), a finding which strongly correlated with elevated body mass index (P < .00001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cardiovascular health of this urban adolescent athletic population is a major concern because their rates of obesity and elevated blood pressure place them at increased risk of cardiovascular complications later in life despite their participation in school athletics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA. Electronic address: jkropa@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kropa
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA; Athlete Health Organization, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Close
authors.affiliation: Athlete Health Organization, Philadelphia, PA; The Heart Center of Philadelphia, Jefferson, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shipon
authors.affiliation: Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hufnagel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine-Pediatrics, Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.affiliation: Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: Public Health Program, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015143:Philadelphia; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Athlete Health Organization; Philadelphia; adolescent; hypertension; obesity; preparticipation physical evaluation