Hypertension and obesity in Italian school children: The role of diet, lifestyle and family history

Abstract

Background and aims: In Italy, the prevalence of hypertension, obesity and overweight in paediatric patients has increased in the past years. The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between obesity and hypertension and related factors in Italian students.

Methods and results: We studied 2007 healthy individuals between the ages of 6 and 17 years of age (998 males and 1009 females) attending schools in the cities of Varese (northern Italy), Rome (central Italy) and Catanzaro (southern Italy). The blood pressure, weight and height of the students were measured. We also assessed their daily intake of foods and the amount of physical activity they performed. A questionnaire was administered to the parents of the subjects to obtain information on the child's medical history and family lifestyle. Of the students, 27.2% were overweight, and 6.6% were obese, with the highest percentages in southern Italy. A total of 6.2% of students had hypertension, and the region with the highest percentage was found to be northern Italy. Obese students had a risk of developing hypertension that was four times greater than those subjects who were of normal weight.

Conclusion: Overweight and obese children/adolescents were more frequently found in southern Italy as opposed to northern and central Italy, and hypertensive children were more prevalent in the north. An unhealthy diet might explain the more widely spread obesity among children living in the south; an excess use of salt could explain the greater rate of hypertension found among children/adolescents living in the north.

Keywords: Hypertension; Italy; Obesity; Students.