Practical Practitioner

By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE

Childhood obesity may increase rates for hypertension

A recent population survey shows an unexpected increase in the number of children with systolic hypertension, and researchers suspect the growing rate of obesity may be to blame. If these results are confirmed by other investigators, there could be important public health implications. These children will be tomorrow’s hypertensive adults. If these levels of blood pressure persist, the number of people with hypertension could increase substantially over the next decades, with subsequent increases in hypertension-related illnesses.

Schools, parents, health professionals, and policy-makers need to understand the gravity of the obesity epidemic requires urgent and massive prevention efforts targeted at getting kids to become physically active as well as to eat a healthy diet, promoting optimal growth but not excessive caloric intake.

Obesity is the number one dietary disorder in North America. If this were an infectious disease, it would be deemed a public health catastrophe and authorities would be performing widespread vaccinations.

This article was originally published August 25, 2003 in The St. Tammany News.

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