Risk of Hypertension in Children Linked to Obesity and Overweight

Scientists have found out that children who suffer from obesity and are overweight are more vulnerable to risk of hypertension. Researchers from Southern California detected instances of hypertension were double in case of overweight children in comparison to their normal weight counterparts. Risk factors can be in the range of 4-10 times among children suffering from obesity. Another danger is that besides hypertension the children can also face high blood pressure. It is calculated that one out of every five children suffering from overweight and obesity also suffer from hypertension. "This study's findings suggest that pediatricians need to be particularly vigilant about screening overweight and obese children for hypertension because high blood pressure can be asymptomatic for many years," according Corinna Koebnick, the Californian researchers. In course of their research the research team examined over two hundred fifty thousand children in the age group of 5-17. All of them were inducted in the Kaiser Permanente that is located in South California during 2007-09.