[Arterial prehypertension and elevated pulse pressure in adolescents: prevalence and associated factors].

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of prehypertension and elevated pulse pressure in adolescents and assess the association between those two conditions and sex, age, sexual development, obesity and physical activity.

Methods: Anthropometrical data and blood pressure were measured in and a questionnaire was applied to 456 adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years) recruited from public and private schools, in the Fonseca district, in the city of Niterói, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2003 to 2004.

Results: Thirty nine (8.6%) presented prehypertension (PH) and 13.4%, elevated pulse pressure (PP). At bivariate analysis, PH was significantly associated with sex, age and obesity, with more prevalent in boys aged between 15 and 17 years, and in the obese. Elevated PP was associated with gender only, as it was more prevalent in boys. Sexual maturation did not show an association with PH or elevated PP. Similar correlations were found at logistic regression. PH prevalence odds ratio was 7.7 for sex, 4.3 for age and 4.6 for obesity. Elevated PP prevalence odds ratio was 10.8 for sex. The correlation between PP and physical activity was positive and significant. The elevation of PP was attributable to systolic blood pressure.

Conclusion: PH and the elevated PP were shown to be present in adolescents from a population with a low prevalence of hypertension, mostly in boys. Further prospective studies are necessary to assess the persistence and the impact of those conditions.