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Hypertension outcomes in metabolically unhealthy normal-weight and metabolically healthy obese children and adolescents

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 29, pages 548–554 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) begins in childhood and continues into adulthood. However, the association between MHO and the risk of developing hypertension remains controversial. A prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the risk of hypertension in MHO and metabolically unhealthy normal-weight (MUNW) Chinese children and adolescents. A total of 1183 participants, 6–18 years old at baseline with normal blood pressure values, were studied using follow-up data from the cohort of the Beijing Child and Adolescent Metabolic Syndrome (BCAMS) study. The participants were classified according to the body mass index and the presence/absence of metabolic abnormality, which was defined by metabolic syndrome (MetS) or insulin resistance (IR). During the 6-year follow-up period, 239 (20.2%) participants developed incident hypertension. After adjusting for age, sex, physical activity, pubertal stage, dietary habits and family history of hypertension, an increased risk for hypertension was observed in the MHO individuals (risk ratio, RRMetS 5.42; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.19–9.22 and RRIR 7.59; 95% CI 1.64–35.20) compared with their metabolically healthy normal-weight counterparts. Independent of the definition of metabolic abnormality, the MUNW subjects did not have an elevated incidence of hypertension. These results suggest that the risk of developing hypertension is increased in the MHO but not in the MUNW individuals.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a National Natural Science Foundation of China grant (81172746), the Beijing Municipal and Technology Commission program (D111100000611002), and the National Science and Technology program funded by the Science and Technology Committee of Beijing (2012BAI03B00).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China

    W Q Ding, Y K Yan, M X Zhang, H Cheng, X Y Zhao, D Q Hou & J Mi

  2. Graduate School, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    W Q Ding, Y K Yan, M X Zhang & J Mi

  3. Department of Maternal and Child Health Care, School of Public Health, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China

    W Q Ding

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  1. W Q Ding
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Correspondence to J Mi.

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Ding, W., Yan, Y., Zhang, M. et al. Hypertension outcomes in metabolically unhealthy normal-weight and metabolically healthy obese children and adolescents. J Hum Hypertens 29, 548–554 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2014.124

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