Background:
Fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) are positively associated with blood pressure (BP) in youth. Yet, how puberty, independent of age, affects these relationships remains unclear. Given puberty may be a crucial period for cardiometabolic health, we examined how pubertal development moderates the associations of FM/FFM with BP.
Methods:
Pubertal development, resting BP, and body composition were assessed in a convenience sample of youth (5.5-17y). General linear models were conducted to assess if pubertal development moderated the relationships between FM/FFM and systolic/diastolic BP standardized for age, sex, and height (SBP
z
/DBP
z
).
Results:
Among participants (
N
=1,405; age:
M
=13.3±2.9y; 65.4% female; 53.2% racial/ethnic minority), FM/FFM were positively associated with SBPz and DBPz (
ps
≤.02). Pubertal development moderated the associations between FFM and BPz (
ps
≤.01), but not FM (
ps
>.43). For early/mid and late pubertal participants, there were positive associations between FFM and BP (DBP
z
: βs=.10-.18,
ps
≤.01; SBP
z
: βs=.33-.43,
ps
<.001); however, these relationships were attenuated, especially for prepubertal DBP
z
(DBP
z
: β=.01,
p
=.91; SBP
z
: β=.24,
p
=.001).
Conclusions:
Puberty moderated the relationships between FFM and SBP
z
/DBP
z
in analyses that separately modeled the contributions of age and sex. These data suggest that the FFM-DBP
z
association may potentially be impacted by increasing sex hormone concentrations during puberty.
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