Researchers from Tulane University reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association that blood pressure levels in American children and teenagers have been progressively increasing since 1988.
The investigators reached this conclusion by studying blood pressure values from children between the ages of 8 and 17 from two different National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), the first conducted between 1988 and 1994, and the second from 1999 to 2000. Between these two time periods, both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of these young Americans showed small but highly significant increases. The rise in blood pressure occurred across both genders, and in all ethnic groups. The increase in average blood pressure in these children is expected to translate to a signficantly higher risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attack when they become adults.
The investigators cannot draw firm conclusions about the cause for this elevation in blood pressure. However, they note that the rise in blood pressure corresponds to the alarming increase in childhood obesity and reduced exercise levels being seen in the U.S., and point out that these findings are very likely to be related.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is expected to release new guidelines this summer on managing blood pressure in children and teens, and these guidelines will lean heavily on lifestyle changes - physical activity and healthy eating habits - as a prime strategy. Of course, for children to change their lifestyles in this way, they will need to see their parents do so, too - and based on recent obesity and activity data on American adults, so far they show little inclination to modify their lifestyles, either for their own sake or for their childrens'.
