Obese Black Kids More Susceptible to Hypertension, Study Finds (869 hits)
By Barbara Bronson Gray HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that obese black children have a significantly greater risk for high blood pressure than white children of comparable age and weight.
When white and black children were matched for height and age, black children's blood pressure was 16 percent higher than the blood pressure of white children, said study lead author Dr. Tamara Hannon, an associate professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.
"Black kids really have higher systolic blood pressure at lower BMIs than white children do. It appears that something other than the BMI is contributing to the higher blood pressure," Hannon said. Systolic blood pressure is the upper number in a blood pressure reading.
BMI, or body mass index -- a calculation based on a person's weight and height -- is considered...
