Prevalence Trends in Adolescent Overweight and Hypertension in the Three Cross-Sectional Surveys of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study, 1999-2008

This study aims at determining the trends of the prevalence of overweight and hypertension among adolescents in three cross-sectional surveys of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). We analyzed the data of adolescents, aged 10-19 years, obtained in the three surveys of the TLGS; survey 1, 1999-2001(n=3010, 47.2% boys); survey 2, 2002-5(n=1107, 48.4% boys), and survey 3, 2006-8 (n=1090, 46.6% boys). At risk for overweight and overweight were defined according to Iranian BMI percentiles. Hypertension was defined according to the fourth report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (BP), American Academy of Pediatrics and charts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mean BMI of adolescents increased from 20.1(4.3) in survey 1 to 21.6(4.7) kg/m2 in survey 3(P<0.001). The adjusted prevalence of at risk for overweight, in the first and third surveys of study increased respectively from 12.8% to 18.5% (P<0.001) and the prevalence of overweight increased from 6.4 to 12.7% respectively (P<0.001). The mean systolic BP and diastolic BP decreased from 105(11), 71.4(9.2) in the first survey to 100(12), 65.4(9.8) mmHg in the third, respectively (P<0.001). The prevalence of high systolic BP and diastolic BP decreased from 3 and 7.9% in 1999-2001 to 1.3 and 3% in 2006-8, respectively. The age adjusted means of SBP and DBP increased respectively in underweight, normal, at risk for overweight and overweight adolescents (P<0.01). The increment of "overweight prevalence" was greater than "at risk for overweight". The prevalence of high systolic and diastolic BP decreased over the three surveys.