Chunky Teens’ Health Headed in Wrong Direction

Key indicators of cardiovascular health, such as blood pressure and arterial stiffness, are headed in the wrong direction in “chunky” adolescents, researchers say.

“This is a wakeup call to parents and physicians to pay more attention to children who fall somewhere in the middle [of the weight continuum], because they likely are headed toward being fatter and at increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Yanbin Dong, an MCG geneticist and cardiologist.

He presented his findings May 10 during the InterAmerican Society of Hypertension and the Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control Scientific Sessions in Miami.

“We tend to ignore these people,” said Dr. Dong, who looked at cardiovascular measures for 972 healthy adolescents with a mean age of nearly 18. The adolescents were part of the Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study, led by MCG Vice President for Research Frank Treiber, on how environmental stress impacts cardiovascular health.

The 17 percent of the teens with midrange body mass also tended to be midrange in cardiovascular risk factors.

“Almost everything was in between,” said Dr. Dong.

For example, the systolic blood pressure of midrange whites was about 2 mmHg higher than that of slim study participants—a risk factor for eventual hypertension, said Dr. Dong, noting, “Blood pressure in adolescence will track to adulthood, so amplification is likely as they get older.”

In blacks and whites, incremental increases in blood pressure even showed up at night, when pressures are generally lowest. Also, the heavier the adolescent, the more sodium secreted in the urine, an indicator of higher sodium intake. Excessive dietary intake may increase blood pressure, Dr. Dong said.

Arterial stiffness in the dorsalis pedis, the artery that supplies the top of the foot, also measured incrementally higher in whites based on weight. Healthyweight blacks typically have higher arterial stiffness than whites.

Heart rate increases based on weight were fairly dramatic in blacks and whites: one beat per minute per category of slim, midrange and heavy. And Dr. Dong noted a linear increase in the size of the pumping chamber of the heart—an indicator it’s working harder—from the thinnest to heaviest adolescents.

“Youth at risk of overweight compared with healthyweight youth appear to have increased cardiovascular risks,” the researchers wrote. “Although there is a continuum of cardiovascular risk across all levels of [body mass index], our data suggest that the atriskofoverweight status already has clinical implications in youth.”

Dr. Dong’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. A Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Travel Award enabled him to present at the joint research session May 610 in Miami.

Toni Baker