Child weight status and high blood pressure from 6 to 12 years of age: results from the PREDI cohort study

AIM: To examine the effect of excess body weight on the blood pressure (BP) of children aged 6-12 years. METHODS: This was a prospective longitudinal study conducted with 187 children at the participants' home in southern Brazil. BP was measured using the auscultatory method. Generalized linear mixed models, including fixed and random effects and adjusted for important covariates, were used to estimate the relative risk (RR) of excess body weight on the incidence of high BP in children throughout the three follow-ups of the study (at ages 6, 9, and 12 years). RESULTS: The prevalence of high BP increased from 25.0 to 66.7% in children with excess body weight from 6 to 12 years of age. For every 1 kg/m 2 increase in the child's BMI, there was an 8% increase (RR = 1.08, 95% confidence interval: 1.00-1.16, P = 0.042) in the risk of the child having high BP from 6 to 12 years of age, even after adjusting for prepregnancy BMI. CONCLUSION: Excessive BMI in children increased the risk of high BP in Brazilian children from 6 to 12 years of age. Special attention must be paid to children under 12 years of age with excess body weight to mitigate the onset of cardiovascular diseases throughout life.