Up to eight percent of Canadian children have a blood pressure which is cause for concern

Up to eight per cent of Canadian children have elevated blood pressure that could be cause for concern, researchers say.  For 15 years, researchers have focused on obesity and nutrition to fight high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease in general.

Professor Terrance Wade, Canada Research Chair in Youth and Wellness at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., is trying something different.

Wade's five-year study focuses on why children might not be getting enough physical activity and developing elevated blood pressure.  Many of the findings about elevated blood pressure in kids have been observed in adults.  "So, it's completely predictable, but it's also worrisome," Wade said Wednesday.

Using repeated measurements from automated blood pressure cuffs, the researchers found 1.5 per cent to four cent of the children participating in the study would be classified as having serious hypertension because they fell in the 95th percentile for high blood pressure.  Another 6.5 per cent to eight per cent of children studied had elevated blood pressure that could be a cause for concern.

The research team of sociologists, cardiologists and exercise physiologists have developed an intervention that aims to help children and youth deal with stress and reduce blood pressure.

The four-step program includes:

      Focusing on children's strengths and making them aware of these.

      Teaching children to focus on positive emotions and adopting a glass half-full perspective.

      Thinking about how children spend their free time.

      Learning coping skills to manage stress.

      The program includes a one-week youth leadership camp for children in grades six to eight. Participants go on to pass on what they have learned to their peers at school

The researchers hope to have results on whether the intervention at five schools in St. Catharines worked by the end of the summer.

The five-year study is funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Source CBC / Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/11/24/blood-pressure-children-stress.html#ixzz16I6BIXIt