Associations Between Obesity and Elevated Blood Pressure Among Children in Five Low-Income Northern California Elementary Schools
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: ABSTRACT \nASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN OBESITY AND ELEVATED BLOOD \nPRESSURE AMONG CHILDREN IN FIVE LOW-INCOME \nNORTHERN CALIFORNIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS \nby \n?? Martin J. Frigaard 2011 \nMaster of Arts in Kinesiology \nCalifornia State University, Chico \nFall 2011 \nChildhood and adolescent obesity and hypertension are predictive of adulthood \nobesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease risk. The purpose of this crosssectional \nstudy was to examine BMI-for-age as an independent risk factor for hypertension \namong 166 5th grade students attending five different low-income elementary \nschools. \nResults indicate that 32% of students were either overweight or obese. This \nrate is the same as the national average, but slightly below the California average reported \nfor this population. The relationship between BMI-for-age and hypertension risk \nwas examined using chi-square analysis. BMI-for-age was found to be significantly related \nto hypertension risk, (p = 0.003); a more than three-fold proportion of over \nweight/obese students (53%) were pre-hypertension/hypertension, compared to underweight/ \nnormal students (15%). \nSystolic blood pressure (SBP) was analyzed as a function of BMI group (underweight, \nnormal, overweight and obese) using one-way ANOVA with repeat comparisons. \nA significant difference was found in mean SBP across BMI groups (p < \n0.001). Post-hoc Tukey comparisons indicated that obese students had higher systolic \nBP (M = 116) than either overweight (M = 111) or normal weight/underweight students \n(M = 104 mmHg). These findings support the need for early health risk screenings and \nprevention programs. Future research should be directed towards reversing increasing \nlevels of weight-relate risk factors for cardiovascular disease in low-income populations.
Author: Martin Frigaard
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2204498181