Longitudinal Relationship of Parental Hypertension with Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, and Cardiovascular Reactivity in Children

Abstract

To investigate whether parental hypertension (HTN) affects children's body mass index (BMI) and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) over time. A longitudinal study of 315 students (black: 23 females, 19 males; white: 142 females, 131 males) was conducted in the public schools of Obion County, Tennessee, between 1987 and 1992. BMI and BMI z scores were calculated. The CVR task was a series of video games (taking approximately 10 minutes to play) given to the same students in their third-, fourth-, fifth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade years. CVR was defined as the change in blood pressure (delta_BP) or heart rate (delta_HR) between before playing and while playing the video game. Positive parental history of HTN (27.6%) was defined as at least 1 parent with HTN. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to estimate the effects of parental HTN on children's BMI and CVR over time. Children with parental HTN had significant higher BMI, BMI z score, and R_BP than did children without parental HTN (BMI: 21.6 vs 19.9, P = .001; BMI z score: 1.6 vs 1.1, P = .003; R_SBP: 112.6 vs 110.4 mm Hg, P = .01; R_DBP 62.7 vs 60.6 mm Hg, P = .003) after adjustment for covariates. Increased CVR was observed in children with parental HTN compared with children without parental HTN but was statistically significant only for SBP (delta_SBP: 17.2 vs 14.9 mm Hg; P = .01) after adjustment for covariates. Parental HTN independently predicted children's BMI, BMI z score, resting BP, and BP reactivity.