Prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, smoking and overweight in older Belgian adolescents

Background: Risk factors in young adulthood may persist into later life and eventually lead to cardiovascular (CV) disease. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of hypertension and other established CV risk factors in older adolescents. Methods: Study nurses examined 120 girls and 80 boys with a mean age of 17.4 (SD, 0.8; range 15.8–19.6 years). After 5 minutes of sitting rest, resting blood pressure (BP) of the participants was measured in triplicate by sphygmomanometry. Body height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Serum lipids, smoking an... Mehr ...