NUMBER OF CHILDREN WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AROUND THE WORLD DOUBLES IN 20 YEARS
The number of children and young people with high blood pressure around the world has almost doubled since the turn of the century, with rising obesity levels seen as a key cause.
The rate of a condition nicknamed ‘the silent killer’ increased from about three per cent in 2000 to more than six per cent in 2020 in those aged under-19, new research has found.
A peer-reviewed paper in the Lancet medical journal crunched data from 96 previous studies and also found that nearly one-in-10 youngsters had high blood pressure that was difficult to spot, meaning true rates could potentially be higher.
Public health experts have long warned of the potential health impact of children and adolescents putting on more weight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the proportion of 5-to-19-year-olds who are overweight has risen from just eight per cent in 1990 to a fifth in 2022.
What was once seen as an issue only for rich countries has now spread to poorer nations in Africa and Asia. Increasing living standards and affluence have seen more people adopt unhealthy diets rich in fast food and calories, and pursue less active urban lifestyles.
Prof Igor Rudan, director of the Centre for Global Health Research at Edinburgh University’s Usher Institute and one of the authors, said: “The nearly twofold increase in childhood high blood pressure over 20 years should raise alarm bells for healthcare providers and caregivers.
“But the good news is that we can take steps now, such as improving screening and prevention efforts, to help control high blood pressure in children and reduce the risks of additional health complications in the future.”
The study in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal suggested obesity was a major driver behind the rise.
Nearly 19 per cent of obese children and adolescents had high blood pressure, compared to less than three per cent in children and adolescents considered a healthy weight.
In Africa, the number of overweight children under five years has increased by nearly 12.1 per cent since 2000 according to the WHO.
The body also reckons almost half of the children under five who were overweight or living with obesity in 2024 lived in Asia.
Prof Jacob George, professor of cardiovascular medicine and therapeutics at the University of Dundee Medical School, did not take part in the research but said he was not surprised by the findings.
He said: “This is an important study that highlights the issue well. In the 20+ years I have been managing hypertension, I would agree that the vast majority of hypertension in the younger population that I am seeing in clinic is obesity related.
He added: “The trend in low- and middle-income countries is mirroring the rise in obesity in those nations.”
Some groups, such as South Asians, also appear genetically predisposed to be more likely to have trouble with diabetes, or their heart and circulation, if they are obese.
Prof Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine and honorary consultant cardiologist at the University of Sheffield, who also did not take part in the research, said high blood pressure was the world’s biggest preventable cause of death.
He said: “This research suggests that rates of high blood pressure in children may be increasing rapidly.
“Any increasing rates of high blood pressure in children is very concerning.”
High blood pressure damages the heart, kidneys, eyes and brain and causes strokes, heart attacks, dementia, and kidney failure. The longer someone has the condition, the more damage is done and the earlier in life complications can strike, he said.
“It is sometimes called ‘the silent killer’ as people often have no symptoms until they develop one of these life-threatening complications.
He added: “High blood pressure is caused by many factors including low levels of physical activity, poor diet, and obesity. We know all of these are increasing in children in many countries, which may explain these findings.”
Many patients can go on to lower their blood pressure if they lose weight, but it can still have lasting effects.
Prof George said: “Having high blood pressure as a child means their blood vessels are exposed to increased hardening at a younger age and are therefore less healthy and unable to cope with fluctuations in blood pressure.
“They are also at risk of diseases such as narrowing of the arteries if they have long-standing uncontrolled high blood pressure.”
Prof Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “The doubling in childhood high blood pressure rates is deeply concerning.
“Elevated blood pressure in childhood often persists into adulthood, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
“While genetics and kidney disease play a role, the sharp rise in childhood hypertension is most likely driven by the growing prevalence of childhood obesity.
He went on: “The good news is that obesity-related high blood pressure can be reversed. We need bold Government action to help prevent obesity in the first place. This includes expanding restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy products and exploring further measures to drive the food industry to make our everyday foods healthier.”
However Dr Hamid Merchant, Head of Bioscience at the University of East London, said improved measuring had played a big role in the global rise, as well as lifestyle changes.
“The rise in global prevalence is mainly attributed to greater awareness, expanded population screening, and revisions to diagnostic guidelines that lowered blood pressure and body weight thresholds, enabling identification of previously missed cases,” he said.
“Lifestyle changes also play a major role, including the popularity of high-calorie fast-food diets among adolescents and a shift from traditional physical sports to computer-based gaming activities.”
The study also highlighted the difficulty of spotting some high blood pressure.
More than nine per cent of children and adolescents had ‘masked hypertension’ which typically does not show up in routine tests carried out in clinics or doctors’ surgeries.
Better tests, conducted by wearing a monitor over a period of time, or at the patient’s home, tend to indicate a greater prevalence of high blood pressure.
Dr Peige Song, of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine (China), who was another of the authors, said: “Childhood high blood pressure is more common than previously thought, and relying solely on traditional in-office blood pressure readings likely underestimates the true prevalence or leads to misdiagnosis of hypertension in children and adolescents.”
In 2000, approximately 3.2 per cent of children had hypertension, but by 2020, the prevalence had increased to more than 6.2 per cent of children and adolescents, affecting 114 million young people around the world.
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2025-11-12T23:30:44Z
