Ortiz-Pinto, Maira AlejandraOrtiz-Marrón, HonoratoFerriz-Vidal, IsabelMartínez-Rubio, María VEsteban-Vasallo, MaríaOrdobás-Gavín, MaríaGalan, Iñaki2024-01-222024-01-222019-08Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2019 Aug;26(12):1326-1334.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/17258Objectives: To evaluate the association of general and abdominal obesity with high blood pressure in young children. Methods: A longitudinal study including 1796 participants from the Madrid region (Spain) with baseline at age 4 years and a follow-up 2 years later. Blood pressure, body mass index and waist circumference were measured during a physical examination. We evaluated the association between obesity at baseline and weight changes between the ages of 4 and 6 years and high blood pressure. Data were analysed using linear and logistic regressions adjusted for covariates. Results: Obese 4 year olds (general or abdominal obesity) experienced an average 4-5 mmHg increase in systolic blood pressure and a 2.5-3 mmHg increase in diastolic blood pressure by the age of 6 years. Compared to children maintaining a non-excess weight (based on body mass index) during follow-up incident and persistent cases of excess weight (overweight or obesity) had an odds ratio (OR) for high blood pressure of 2.49 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50-4.13) and OR 2.54 (95% CI 1.27-5.07), respectively. Regarding abdominal obesity we estimated OR 2.81 (95% CI 0.98-8.02) for incident cases and OR 3.42 (95% CI 1.38-8.49) for persistent cases. Similar estimates for the waist-height ratio were observed. Individuals who experienced remission to non-excess weight did not have an increased risk of high blood pressure. Conclusions: We observed an increased risk for high blood pressure among 4-year-olds who presented with persistent or incident cases of excess weight (body mass index) or abdominal obesity after 2 years of follow-up. Children with excess weight or obesity at baseline who remitted to non-excess weight did not exhibit an increased risk of high blood pressure.engAMhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ChildhoodObesityAbdominal obesityArterial hypertensionAdiposityArterial PressureAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansHypertensionIncidenceLongitudinal StudiesMaleObesity, AbdominalPediatric ObesityRisk AssessmentRisk FactorsSpainAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional3118934526121326-133410.1177/20474873198392642047-4881European journal of preventive cardiologyopen access