Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) were studied by researchers for their respective contributions to high blood pressure in children.
Children with OSA-related symptoms aged 3 to 18 years were recruited. All of the youngsters had their blood pressure (BP) monitored in the office and full-night polysomnography. Obesity was characterized as having a BMI≥95th percentile. The severity of OSA was categorized into three categories: primary snoring (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]<1), mild OSA (5> AHI≥1), and moderate to severe OSA (AHI≥5). An age- and gender-adjusted logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationships between OSA, obesity, and high blood pressure.
The cross-sectional research included 1,689 children (66% of whom were boys) with an average age of 7.9 years. Children with moderate to severe OSA had substantially higher systolic BP (108.1 mmHg vs. 105.6 mmHg), diastolic BP (75.0 mmHg vs. 70.4 mmHg), and systolic BP percentile (75.0 vs. 70.4), and diastolic BP percentile (74.0 vs. 69.2). Unfavorable blood pressure (elevated or hypertension level BP) was also considerably greater in children with more severe OSA. Obese children had higher BP and BP percentiles. According to logistic regression analysis, children with obesity and moderate to severe OSA had a threefold increased chance of unfavorable blood pressure compared to children without obesity and main snoring.
Children with obesity and moderate to severe OSA had a threefold increased risk of unfavourable blood pressure.
Reference: jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(22)00209-8/fulltext
