Twice as many children now have high blood pressure than they did a decade ago

Almost twice as many children now have high blood pressure than they did at the turn of the millennium, according to research. 

Six per cent of youngsters across the globe had hypertension in 2015, compared with three per cent in the 2000s.

Oxford University scientists found the prevalence of the condition among children and teenagers was just one per cent in the 1990s.

The findings, based on data from 47 studies, showed rates of high blood pressure jumped among all children – including six year olds.

It comes amid a global childhood obesity epidemic, with bulging waistlines and unhealthy diets causing a myriad of health problems.

There is a strong relationship between excess weight and hypertension – obese men are more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure and obese women are three times more likely.  

Hypertension, the medical term for high blood pressure, often shows no symptoms. It can lead to strokes and heart attacks.

This is because the blood vessels, heart, and organs are put under more strain. Even small reductions in blood pressure can slash the risk.  

Typically, over-65s who are overweight end up with the condition and have to take daily pills to control their blood pressure. 

But the latest research adds to evidence that a growing number of under 30s are being diagnosed. 

Katharine Jenner, CEO of Blood Pressure UK said: ‘High blood pressure used to be thought of as an “old person’s disease” – not any more. 

‘Unhealthy lifestyle choices such as being overweight, eating too much salt and not enough fruits and vegetables, and not doing enough exercise, are no longer taking 30 or 40 years to manifest, but instead are presenting as diseases such as hypertension in childhood.’

One in five British children are overweight when they start primary school, rising to one in three when they start secondary school.  

In the US, almost a third of children and teenagers are either overweight or obese, with one in five obese.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health estimates half of all children will be overweight or obese by 2020.

Ms Jenner said: ‘The food industry is shortening our children’s lives by drowning us in food and drink full of salt, fat and sugar, advertising it irresponsibly to children and putting it on promotion, and they must be held to account.

‘This should be a stark reminder to the Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock to now commit Public Health England to setting new and ambitious salt targets for 2020, to release the calorie reduction plans and set restrictions on unhealthy food advertising and promotion.’

The meta-analysis by the University of Oxford research teem pooled data from 47 articles published between 1994 and 2018.

The researchers, led by Dr Yajie Zhu, wanted to estimate the worldwide prevalence of high blood pressure in children and teenagers. 

Between 1990 and 1999, around one per cent of children had high blood pressure, according to the findings published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. 

A stark increase was observed over the next two decades, rising to 3.3 per cent in 2000-2009, and six per cent in 2010-2014. 

By combining data over the past two decades, they estimate 14 per cent of children have had blood pressure out of a normal range.

Some ten per cent had elevated blood pressure, which is slightly above normal and likely to turn into hypertension unless action is taken quickly.

Anything outside 90/60mmHg to 120/80mmHg is considered elevated. 

The average prevalence of childhood hypertension – which is 140/90mmHg or higher – over the study period was four per cent. 

Hypertension was more common among obese or overweight children, striking a 15.3 per cent and five per cent, respectively.

In comparison, high blood pressure was seen in just 1.9 per cent of children in a normal weight range. 

This could be due to health conditions such as kidney disease, or genetics, as high blood pressure often runs in families.

Adolescents going through puberty were also more likely to have hypertension – prevalence peaked at 7.9 per cent at age 14.

This could be due to a change in hormones and growth spurts, the authors note, because the rate declines again towards adulthood. 

The researchers admitted some of the data came from different hypertension measuring devices, which could prevent a reliable estimate. 

They concluded that childhood hypertension is already a ‘considerable public health challenge’, and urged for action on a global scale to prevent it getting worse.

Their findings support those of the CDC, who state more than one in seven 12 to 19-year-olds in the US had hypertension or elevated blood pressure in 2013–2016. 

Startling data in September, from LloydsPharmacy, found a third of people under 35 have high or above-average cholesterol levels. 

Studies have found young adulthood is a period of time that high blood pressure or high cholesterol can be particularly harmful.

Columbia University revealed that it could put those in their 20s or 30s at a higher risk of heart disease in later life. 

And University College London found those who had high or rising blood pressure between the ages of 36 and 53 showed a decrease in brain volume by the age of 71. 

And almost one in three (32 per cent) America adults have high blood pressure, the CDC say. It directly caused almost 1,000 deaths every day in 2013. 

More than one in four adults in the UK have high blood pressure, according to the NHS, although many won’t be aware of it. 

It was responsible to 75,000 deaths in the UK in 2015, according to the Global Burden of Disease report.