Abstract

Blood pressure distribution of adolescents and its several related factors including obesity were investigated through blood pressure measuring by automated oscillometric method, anthropometry, and questionnaire. Subjects were 480 female and 480 male middle school students living in Taejon. Mean values of systolic(SBP)/diastolic(DNP) blood pressure of male and female students were 118.4$\pm$11.0/69.5$\pm$9.6 mmHg and 116.9$\pm$10.4/69.5$\pm$8.6 mmHg, respectively. Their blood pressures, particularly SBP, increased with age and showed higher value in the males than in the females. All frequency distributions of SBP and DBP, by sex and age, showed normal curves and their 50th, 90th, and 95th percentiles were presented. As obese index increased, both SBP and DBP were elevated and the prevalence of hypertension which was classified by Task Force Report(1987) increased, particularly in male students. Body weight and BMI were positively correlated with both SBP and DBP, and hight was also positively correlated with SBP or DBP. Our data inicated that blood pressure and hypertension prevalence of adolescents tended to increase and various internal and external environmental factors affected them. It was emphasized that blood pressure measurement should be done in every medical examination of adolescents and the nationwide Korean standard of blood pressure for adolescents have to be prepared. (Korean J Community Nutrition 1(2) : 178-188, 1996)