Warning: Obesity Can Lead to High Blood Pressure in Kids

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Children and teens that become or stay obese may face up to three times the risk for developing high blood pressure, according to a new report from the HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research in Bloomington, Minn.

This has strong implications for Latino children, nearly 40% of whom are overweight or obese, compared to about 32% of all U.S. children.

For the study, the researchers collected data on more than 100,000 children and teens in California, Colorado, and Minnesota—which have growing Latino population segments—between 2007 and 2011.

During the study, 0.3% of the kids developed high blood pressure.

The researchers found that kids ages 3-11 who went from overweight to obese had more than twice the odds of developing high blood pressure during the short study period.

For older kids ages 12-17 the high blood pressure risks were more than tripled, the research revealed.

“These findings underscore the importance of developing and implementing early and effective clinical and public health strategies for obesity prevention,” said Emily Parker, lead researcher. “Having high blood pressure in children and adolescents is pretty rare, and we still need to know more about whether or not high blood pressure leads to greater risk of cardiovascular events later in life for these kids.”

The report was published online Feb. 19 in the journal Pediatrics.