Relationship between Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure in Children Younger than Seven Years of Age

Background and purpose: Nowadays, overweight and abnormal blood pressure (BP) have increased among children. This paper aimed at investigating the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and BP in children younger than 7 years of age. In this cross-sectional study, 400 children aged 18 months to 7 years old were selected through random cluster sampling from 20 urban and rural healthcare centers. Their personal and medical information was recorded. Then, the height, weight, and blood pressure were measured. Data were analyzed in SPSS V21. The study was performed in 315 children whose parents agreed to complete the study. The participants included 187 (59.4%) boys and 128 (40.6%) girls. According to BMI, most of the male subjects had normal weight (n=162, 51.4%) but 25 (7.9%) were found with abnormal weight. Similar situation was also seen in girls (114 [36.2%] vs. 14 [4.4%]). Normal and abnormal systolic blood pressure in boys and girls were seen in 176 and 11, and in 123 and 5, respectively. In this study significant relationships were found between BMI and systolic blood pressure (P= 0.032) and BMI and diastolic blood pressure in children (P= 0.008). The increasing trend of overweight and consequently increased blood pressure among children call for life style modification to decrease the consequences caused by these health problems.