Abstract
Aims: This study sought to analyze blood pressure and its association with eating behavior, physical activity, and body mass index in high school students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with high school students from midwestern Brazil. Blood pressure was measured according to the guidelines outlined by the Brazilian Society of Cardiology. Nutritional status was assessed in accordance with the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (Sistema de Vigilância Alimentar Nutricional, SISVAN), according to the standard reference of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES II), and the level of physical activity was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form. The chi-square test and the Mann-Whitney U test were used for characterization of the population and comparisons between genders and normotensive and prehypertensive subjects. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to verify the relationship between blood pressure, physical activity, and eating behavior. The significance level was set at p<0.05.Results: Prehypertension was detected in 26% of the students and overweight frequency was higher than the national average (38% for girls and 20% for boys). Concerning eating behavior, students’ nutritional habits were "very good" in 7%, "regular" in 68%, and "poor" in 24%. In bivariate analyses, systolic blood pressure and blood pressure percentile were positively associated with body mass index. In multivariate analyses, there were positive associations between eating behavior and body mass index with diastolic blood pressure: when body mass index was high and the eating behavior score was low (unhealthy eating habits), diastolic blood pressure was high. No relationship was observed between blood pressure and physical activity.Conclusions: The adolescents assessed in this study showed a high frequency of prehypertension. Body mass index was positively associated with high blood pressure, indicating that a high body mass index is a risk factor for the development of hypertension among adolescents. Therefore, early intervention to control body mass index may be a valuable strategy to prevent overweight, obesity, and hypertension.
Highlights
High blood pressure (HBP), one of the main risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, is a growing public health concern
Nutritional status was assessed in accordance with the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (Sistema de Vigilância Alimentar Nutricional, SISVAN), according to the standard reference of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES II), and the level of physical activity was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form
The present study evaluated the frequency of HBP and the associations between blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and two behaviors linked to HBP, and found that high BMI and blood pressure parameters were associated
Summary
High blood pressure (HBP), one of the main risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, is a growing public health concern. In contrast to developed countries, where the control of HBP and related diseases has improved, in developing countries such as Brazil, the prevalence of this condition has been progressively increasing [1] deficient strategies of primary healthcare are the major obstacles for blood pressure control. The epidemiology of hypertension and related diseases, healthcare resources and priorities, the socioeconomic status of the population vary considerably in different countries and in different regions of individual countries. Considering the low rates of blood pressure control achieved in Latin America and the benefits that can be expected from an improved control, it was decided to invite specialists from different Latin American countries to analyze the regional situation and to provide a consensus document on detection, evaluation and treatment of hypertension that may prove to be cost-utility adequate. It is projected that 75% (or 1.17 billion) of people with HBP in the world will be living in emerging nations by 2025 [2]
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