Study finds 1 in 5 young athletes meet criteria for pre-hypertension

As many as one in five young athletes aged 10 to 31 may have pre-hypertension, a precursor to high blood pressure, according to a new preliminary study.

More than 20% of the athletes studied met the criteria for high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease.

Teenage boys appear to be at greater risk than teenage girls, the study found, with more than double the rates of stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension. According to the study, 28% of multi-sport athletes had high blood pressure .

Normal blood pressure is considered to be 120/80 or less, according to the American Heart Association. Stage 1 hypertension is considered a systolic or higher reading of 130 to 139 and/or a lower or diastolic reading of 80 to 89. Stage 2 hypertension is a systolic reading of 140 or higher and/or a reading diastolic of 90 or more.

Doctors who led the research say young people should always be encouraged to play sports because an active lifestyle reduces the risk of metabolic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. However, they say few people may be aware of their underlying condition.

“When we think of hypertension, we often think of older patients,” said lead author Dr. Aneeq Malik, a third-year resident in internal medicine at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Malik also co-founded the nonprofit Saving Hearts Foundation, which hosted free heart screening events during which study data was collected.

“Even people who we consider to be very healthy young adults, people who engage in physical activity, are still at increased risk,” Malik said.

Malik also stressed that the study results should not dissuade young people from being active: “Just because you play a sport doesn’t explain why these people are at greater risk.”

The study is being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Care of the Athletic Heart conference. Although it hasn’t gone through the usual scientific review process, some doctors say it still helps bring attention to an often-overlooked problem.

“There is absolutely a need to focus more on prevention rather than treatment alone,” said Dr. Anuradha Lala, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York, who was not involved in the study. “A lot of prevention is based on adequate and appropriate screening.”

Lala also said it was important to understand “the influence of racial and ethnic background on the incidence and prevalence of hypertension at earlier ages.” The study found that African American and Hispanic participants, for example, had higher rates of hypertension.

She further noted that multiple factors can lead to high blood pressure and recommends that parents can help address this by being “aware of the diet, sleep and psychological well-being that our children are exposed to and that they meet”.