Year: 1980
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In 1973, standardized measurements of blood pressure (BP), height, and weight were obtained on all adolescents attending high school in a rural Kentucky county.In 1978, a 5-year follow-up BP study was undertaken of all adolescents who were 14-15 years old at the time of the initial surrey (n = 310), and of selected 16-19 year olds who were in the high, intermediate, and low ranges of the initial sex-specific BP distributions (n = 198).Follow-up measurements included height, weight, and BP on all subjects and, in addition, oremight sodium (Na) excretion, serum cholesterol, glucose, triglyceride, and uric add concentrations on the older group.Our findings indicate that BP in young adults is related to BP hi adolescence, change hi relative weight since adolescence, and current relatire weight Relative rank order of initial BP lerels were maintained over the 5-year period in both the younger and older groups.Additional cardiovascular disease risk factors were found to cluster in young adults with high BP, and clustering of risk factors may, hi part, be related to high relative weight (Hypertension 2 (suppl I): I-124-I-129, 1980) KEY WORDS • blood pressure • cardiovascular disease risk factors • weight • adolescenceC OMPARED to other states, Kentucky has a relatively high cardiovascular disease mortality rate. 1 To determine if risk factors for cardiovascular diseases could be identified at a young age, in 1973 we surveyed the blood pressure (BP) in all high school seniors in Bourbon County, Kentucky, a rural community.1 In these adolescents, aged 14-19 years, we found that BP was higher in males than females and that in both sexes BP was related to body size.We had previously observed that the BP of black adolescents in Washington, D.C., was higher than in whites.3 In this rural Kentucky county we found no racial BP difference, however, but did find that BP was higher in both white and black Bourbon County adolescents than in black adolescents residing in Washington, D.C.Several longitudinal studies of children and young adults suggest that an individual tends to maintain BP in the same relative rank order within the peer group and that BP at one age may be predictive of BP at a later age.415 Two conflicting studies report impressive variability rather than stability of BP measurements over time, 19 ' " however.If the probability of develop-
Source: Hypertension
Institution: University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: National Institutes of Health
OpenAlex ID: W2123990849