Features of and preventive measures against hypertension in the young

Abstract

The Japanese hypertension guidelines report that essential hypertension is detected in 1-3% of upper elementary and high school students during blood pressure (BP) screenings. Hypertension in these age groups is an emerging public health concern mainly attributed to the rising rate of pediatric obesity. Considering the existence of BP tracking phenomenon, early preventive education and instruction are necessary, especially for male students with moderately elevated BP showing a tendency toward obesity, despite the low prevalence of hypertension in high school students. Students with a positive family history of hypertension and those born with low birth weight need the same measures. Lifestyle habits, such as increased alcohol intake, dramatically change once students begin university; thus, early education and instruction regarding the factors influencing BP are necessary. In particular, for male students with higher BP during high school, caution regarding increased body weight is required irrespective of their level of obesity. Young adults aged <40 years should be educated about the association between body weight and hypertension. Particular caution surrounding lifestyle habits, including drinking and smoking, is warranted in male hypertensive subjects because hypertension at a young age is strongly associated with obesity. BP monitoring and the management of obesity should be considered efficient approaches to the detection and treatment of hypertension. For the lifetime prevention of hypertension, it is essential to be aware of one's health status and learn about healthy lifestyles beginning in childhood. BP measurement may be an appropriate means to achieve this goal. Keywords Blood pressure measurement • Lifestyle • Low birth weight • Obesity • Young hypertension

Death of a parent during childhood and blood pressure in youth: a population-based cohort study of Swedish men

“…A family history of metabolic disorders and early CVD is a well-established risk factor of hypertension in children and youth. 56 An alternative explanation may be that severe stress increases the risk of hypertension in youth only among individuals with a genetic susceptibility to cardiometabolic disorders; children exposed to parental death due to natural causes are more likely to have such a susceptibility than children who lost a parent due to unnatural causes. A further though-in light of the fact that exposure in young age was not associated with the outcome-less likely explanation for the association between parental death due to natural causes and hypertension is that natural deaths may be proceeded by a long period of disease which may induce chronic stress for family members.…”

Risk of hypertension in school-aged children with different parental risk: A longitudinal study from childhood to young adulthood

“…According to current ndings, in both parents, the most important factors in distinguishing high and low parental risk clusters were essentially cardio-metabolic risk factors including MetS, HTN and weight status while physical activity was the least signi cant one. Most previous studies attempting to unveil the impact of parental cardio-metabolic risk factors in association with childhood HTN, have considered these factors separately and underscored the importance of family history of HTN and parental weight status in increasing risk of HTN in their children [7,12,[39][40][41]. Even in Iran, HTN and obesity of parents were found to be potential risk factors resulting in elevated BP in children [17].…”

Contributions of Anthropometrics and Lifestyle to Blood Pressure in Japanese University Students : Investigation by Annual Health Screening

“…Anthropometrics are important health and fitness indicators. Especially, BMI has a strong impact on BPs as well as on the ECG findings (16,18), i.e., consensus is acquired in many updated guidelines with respect to that systemic obesity is associated with hypertension (1,19,20). Cut-off point of BMI defining obesity differs internationally.…”

“…Actually, half (53.2%) of the graduate students showed no habit of exercise in this study (Table 1). This should be followed up to examine whether lack of exercise in youth underlies future hypertension and to validate the exercise promotion in health literacy (16).…”

“…Lifestyle is deeply related to the BPs in the university students' reports (9,10,11,16). In the multivariate analyses, BMI, age and lack of exercise were the variables significantly (p < 0.001) contributing to high BPs in the male undergraduates (Table 2).…”