The results also showed that among the boys, elevated BMI in childhood predicted risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) in young adulthood. Compared with boys who had a childhood BMI below the 75th percentile, boys between the 75th and 85th percentile of BMI as children were four times more likely to become hypertensive. Boys at or above the 85th percentile were five times more likely to become hypertensive.

"There has been widespread recognition in the past few years of how important it is to prevent obesity in children. These findings underscore that even children who are in the high normal weight range may have adverse outcomes later in life, and our challenge may be even greater than we thought," said Matthew Gillman, senior author on the paper and associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention at HMS. "We must focus not only on the most obese kids but also on those who are just a bit overweight."

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10-Mar-2005