Researchers in the U.S. are warning that blood pressure levels among American children are on the rise.
In a newly published study the scientists say their findings add to a growing body of evidence linking obesity to serious health problems.
The researchers examined data from seven U.S. government surveys conducted from 1963 to 2002 on youngsters aged 8 to 17 and warn that high blood pressure has become more common in U.S. children and teenagers.
Researcher Dr. Rebecca Din-Dzietham an associate professor of community health and preventive medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine says the finding is a call to action and unless the upward trend in high blood pressure is reversed, an explosion of new cardiovascular disease cases in young adults and adults is pending.
Din-Dzietham and colleagues reviewed almost 40 years of government data on high blood pressure (hypertension) and prehypertension in children and teens.
During that time high blood pressure or borderline high blood pressure was uncommon in children and teenagers but the researchers say the trends paint a different picture.
The children's blood pressure, height, weight, and waist circumference were checked and from 1963 to 1988, high blood pressure and borderline high blood pressure became rarer among this group.
But from 1988 on that trend has been reversed and has been increasing ever since.
High blood pressure increases the risks for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and other serious health conditions and the worry is that if high blood pressure starts in childhood, those problems may begin earlier in life.