Obesity in Teens Leads to Rise in Hypertension

Over the past decade, the number of children and teens who are being admitted to hospitals with high blood pressure has experienced a sharp increase, according to a new study that was recently published in the journal of Hypertension. This frightening trend is leading teens towards more severe health problems in their future.

In 1997 a documented 12,661 children and teens were admitted to hospitals with high blood pressure. In 2006 that number rose to 24,602 – in other words, nearly doubling within a decade. The cost of hospitalization over that time span was a whopping 3.1 billion dollars.

Obesity in children, as in adults, has been on a rapid rise. Obesity is also a major contributor to high blood pressure, and as it increases the number of children who suffer from the disease will continue to increase also.

There are more than 12.5 million children in the U.S. between the ages of 2 and 19 that are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the number of obese children has tripled since 1980. According to a study published in Obesity, the cost of health care related to childhood obesity totaled 3 billion dollars in 2009.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, cardiologist and the director of women and heart disease of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Lenox Hill Hospital, told WebMD that the findings are alarming: “This could be a huge wake-up call. When I read an article like this, I feel like standing on the buildings in New York City and screaming,” she said. “Children are getting sicker and sicker as they’re getting more obese. There’s going to be a huge increase in heart disease and health care costs because of this.”

Unfortunately, hypertension has few symptoms, but if left untreated, could cause a host of medical problems. High blood pressure can lead to stroke, blindness, memory problems and heart failure. Risk factors include family history, age, race, and poor diet. Exercise and eating healthier are imperative to curb the trend, researchers said.

“Increasingly, these are children with essential hypertension–this is consequence of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes that is found increasingly in teenagers and younger children,” Dr. Ernesto Schiffrin, spokesman for the American Heart Association, told CNN. “If we are going to prevent adult hypertension, we have to start at this early age by avoiding obesity, cutting back on salt and exercising- otherwise this will increase further the prevalence of adult hypertension and the huge costs that will occur accordingly.”

Paul Carlotta is the leading expert in Market America and Nutraceuticals.  To learn more, visit http://www.isotonicvitamins.com today.