In the young population, arterial stiffness, a new risk factor for hypertension, raises blood pressure indirectly through increased insulin resistance, but not through increased body fat.
The study was published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. There is a worldwide effort directed at the early detection, identification and diagnosis of hypertension to prevent this “silent killer disease” and its sequelae from the first years of life.
Gaps in knowledge about the pathways through which blood pressure rises are still lacking, even in populations of normal weight who are physically active and have healthy lifestyle choices.
It is well known that obesity increases the risk of hypertension. Researchers have recently shown that arterial stiffness, which has been established as a causal risk factor for hypertension in adults, is also implicated in the young population.
Arterial stiffness can also cause increased insulin resistance in adolescents and young adults. Unfortunately, clinical trials to reduce arterial stiffness in adults have not been promising, and clinical trials in the young population are ongoing.
In the new study, the researchers examined whether arterial stiffness raises blood pressure through increased body fat or insulin resistance in a mostly normal-weight adolescent population. This is because clinical trials in the young population have shown that lifestyle intervention could reduce body fat and insulin resistance.
Thus, if arterial stiffness indirectly raises blood pressure through any of these pathways, intercepting that pathway might be clinically relevant. “We found that arterial stiffness indirectly elevated blood pressure in adolescence through the insulin resistance pathway. However, it is surprising that increased body fat was not a pathway through which arterial stiffness raised blood pressure in this general adolescent population.
Until the results of clinical trials on reducing arterial stiffness in adolescents are available, it may be important for pediatricians and public health experts to focus on promoting healthy lifestyle choices that reduce insulin resistance and thus potentially lowering blood pressure.
Also read: Obesity could cause more harm than you think, says study
Increasing physical activity, reducing screen time, quitting smoking or vaping, reducing salt and sugar intake, increasing the portion of vegetables and fiber in the diet, and getting optimal daily sleep are all healthy lifestyle choices says Andrew Agbaje, a physician and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.
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