Factors influencing adolescent blood pressure: the Debrecen Hypertension Study.

AIM: To obtain epidemiological data on the blood pressure (BP) status of high school students and factors influencing BP. METHODS: Subjects filled out a questionnaire and three repeated BP measurements were taken. All high school attending students in Debrecen (final sample n = 10,194, mean age 16.6 ± 1.0 years) participated in the study. RESULTS: Boys had significantly higher systolic BP (+11.3 mm Hg) and diastolic BP (+2.2 mm Hg) than girls (p < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between weight and BP (r(syst) = 0.42, r(diast) = 0.29), height and BP (r(syst) = 0.33, r(diast) = 0.15), body mass index (BMI) and BP (r(syst) = 0.31, r(diast) = 0.27). Multiple regression was used for statistical analysis. Gender (ß = 0.36), BMI (ß = 0.25), hypertension of parents (father ß = 0.04 and mother ß = 0.02), smoking, alcohol consumption and age determined systolic outcomes in descending order. For the diastolic model, BMI remained a strong determining factor (ß = 0.25) and gender was also significant (ß = -0.09). Entering independents together accounted for 28.2% of the total variance in systolic and for 18.1% in diastolic BP. CONCLUSION: Body weight is central to determining BP. Because that is an alterable cardiovascular risk factor, we presume that lifestyle modification will not only result in reduced weight, but also in decreased BP.