Changes in the ambulatory arterial pressure of normotensive obese children

Abstract Obesity represents an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and in children it is often associated to the future development of essential hypertension. To evaluate the early hemodynamic alterations in obese normotensive children, ambulatory monitoring was performed in 18 obese children aged 9.6 +/- 2.9 and in 33 controls of equivalent age by ICR 5200 (Spacelabs, USA). Blood pressure daily curves in the two groups were compared by MANOVA. Basal blood pressure did not differ in the two groups (115 +/- 17 mmHg and 79 +/- 7 mmHg respectively systolic and diastolic in controls and 115 +/- 12 mmHg and 79 +/- 6 mmHg in obese children). On the contrary ambulatory monitoring showed higher systolic values in obese children when compared to controls (112 +/- 7 versus 107 +/- 7, p less than 0.04) (MANOVA test, p less than 0.03). The difference was observed both during the day time (115 +/- 6 vs 111 +/- 7, p less than 0.03) and during the night (107 +/- 9 vs 102 +/- 8, p less than 0.5). No differences in diastolic pressure and in heart rate were observed. Those findings indicate that in obese children blood pressure alterations unrecognized at usual blood pressure checks are detectable by ambulatory 24 hour monitoring