American Kids' Blood Pressure Creeps Up

Obesity epidemic fallout foreshadows serious health troubles
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 11, 2007 10:37 AM CDT
American Kids' Blood Pressure Creeps Up
Children's Medical Center employee Terry Wade, left, lines up others behind EmmaLee Duckworth, center, 5, to play in a game of kickball during a program at Children's Medical Center to help families with overweight children get healthier, Tuesday, March 6, 2007, in Dallas. The program is one of many...   (Associated Press)

The ranks of US children with dangerously high blood pressure and hypertension have been growing for 20 years, reversing a decades-long trend, says a new study that tracks the effects of youth obesity. Hypertension, which usually doesn't develop until patients are in their 30s or 40s, is a leading cause of heart attack and stroke, the Washington Post reports.

More and more children are developing traditionally "adult" ailments such as type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol; a researcher calls the blood pressure findings "another piece of evidence suggesting that the obesity epidemic will likely turn into a heart disease epidemic." Less than 6% of American children were obese in 1963; by 2003, the figure had climbed to 17%. (More childhood obesity stories.)

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