Abstract:
ABSTRACT
ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN OBESITY AND ELEVATED BLOOD
PRESSURE AMONG CHILDREN IN FIVE LOW-INCOME
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
by
© Martin J. Frigaard 2011
Master of Arts in Kinesiology
California State University, Chico
Fall 2011
Childhood and adolescent obesity and hypertension are predictive of adulthood
obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease risk. The purpose of this crosssectional
study was to examine BMI-for-age as an independent risk factor for hypertension
among 166 5th grade students attending five different low-income elementary
schools.
Results indicate that 32% of students were either overweight or obese. This
rate is the same as the national average, but slightly below the California average reported
for this population. The relationship between BMI-for-age and hypertension risk
was examined using chi-square analysis. BMI-for-age was found to be significantly related
to hypertension risk, (p = 0.003); a more than three-fold proportion of over
weight/obese students (53%) were pre-hypertension/hypertension, compared to underweight/
normal students (15%).
Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was analyzed as a function of BMI group (underweight,
normal, overweight and obese) using one-way ANOVA with repeat comparisons.
A significant difference was found in mean SBP across BMI groups (p <
0.001). Post-hoc Tukey comparisons indicated that obese students had higher systolic
BP (M = 116) than either overweight (M = 111) or normal weight/underweight students
(M = 104 mmHg). These findings support the need for early health risk screenings and
prevention programs. Future research should be directed towards reversing increasing
levels of weight-relate risk factors for cardiovascular disease in low-income populations.
