Association between blood pressure and BMI,waist circumference among children aged 3～6 years in Beijing

【Objective】To analyze the relationship between blood pressure and overweight,obesity diagnosed by BMI,waist circumference(WC) respectively,among children(3~6 years) in Beijing. 【Methods】As part of the Beijing children and adolescents metabolic syndrome study(BCAMS),data of weight,height,WC,and blood pressure were collected from 1 862 subjects aged 3~6 years from April to October in 2004.Overweight and obesity were defined according to the US 2000 CDC Growth frac34,the 85th and 95th percentiles;abdominal obesity was defined by waist circumference 90th cutpoints based on data from BCAMS.High Blood pressure were defined according to blood pressure reference standard in children of China. 【Results】The levels of SBP and DBP increased from normal weight to overweight and to obesity.The partial correlation coefficients between SBP,DBP and BMI were 0.313 and 0.282,for waist circumference were 0.293 and 0.313(P0.001) controlled by age,gender and location.The prevalence of hypertension in obesity diagnosed by BMI and waist circumference were 45.9% and 38.6% respectively,the prevalence was 3 times higher than in normal weight children. 【Conclusions】The prevalence of obesity and hypertension are high among children aged 3~6 years in Beijing.The levels of blood pressure are positively correlated with BMI and WC.Obesity is an explanation for higher incidence of hypertension than normal weight.