Background: Childhood blood pressure (BP) is known to be associated with weight status. However, the association between BP and adiposity and lifestyle behaviors in normal-weight (NW) versus overweight/obese (OW/OB) schoolchildren should be further explored.
Objective: To determine the association between schoolchildren’s BP with adiposity and lifestyle behaviors.
Methods: Data for age, sex, BMI, waist circumference (WC), and BP were recorded. OW/OB was defined as a BMI > 85%ile or > 95%ile respectively. A 5-level index that ranked participants’ daily consumption of vegetables or fruits, milk, sweetened beverages, and TV viewing were performed.
Results: Schoolchildren (n = 1249, 554M) aged 9.4 ± 2.1 years from 9 elementary schools in five states of Argentina were examined. The prevalence of OW was 265 (21.2%) o and OB 265 (21.2%). All came from a low socio-economic background; 62% of the parents had an elementary school education or less. Children were divided into NW and OW/OB. Systolic BP was significantly associated with age (r=0.18), WC (r=0.17), and BMI (r=0.34) in NW children. However, systolic BP was significantly associated with age (r=0.37), WC (r=0.42), WC/height (r=0.24), BMI (r=0.19), low fruit intake (r=0.14), and TV watching (r=0.12) in OW/OB children. Diastolic BP was significantly associated with age (r=0.40), WC (r=0.37), WC/height (r=0.18), and BMI (r=0.33) in OW/OB children. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that systolic BP was only significantly associated with age in NW children (R2=0.02); but with age, WC, and TV watching (R2=0.22) in OW/OB children. In addition, diastolic BP was significantly associated with age and WC (R2=0.17) in OW/OB children but no association was found in NW children.
Conclusion: These results suggest that BP levels in schoolchildren were associated with adiposity and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. Future longitudinal studies should be performed to confirm these findings.
V. Hirschler: None. C. Molinari: None. S. Lapertosa: None. C. Garcia: None.
