Blood pressure trends associated with changes in height and weight from early adolescence to young adulthood

Abstract

In children, blood pressure is more closely related to height and indices of maturation than to age. This study extends observations on the relationship between height, weight, maturation and blood pressure during early adolescence into young adulthood. Standardized measurements of blood pressure, height, and weight were initially obtained in all 14–15 year old adolescents ( N = 304) in a rural Kentucky school system. Measurements were repeated 5 and 8 years later. Adolescents with relatively high blood pressures continued to have higher blood pressures as young adults. Increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over time were related to increases of relative weight in both sexes ( p < 0.0001 and p < 0.005, respectively), and in males increases of systolic blood pressure were related to increases of height ( p < 0.005). However, males who attained their full height at younger ages had higher blood pressures both during adolescence and subsequently, as young adults. Thus blood pressure of young adults is related to blood pressure in adolescence, relative weight and change in relative weight since adolescence, and in males to age of maturation as determined by the age at which adult height is attained.