Trends in Blood Pressure and Usual Dietary Sodium Intake Among Children and Adolescents

Overwyk K et al investigated temporal trends and secular changes in blood pressure in 12,249 individuals aged 8 to 17 years, who participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, from 2003 to 2016.

Sodium intake was estimated from dietary data, and logistic regression was used to investigate secular trends and the associations between usual sodium intake and blood pressure.

They found a decrease in the prevalence of elevated blood pressure or hypertension between 2003 and 2016, decreasing from 16.2% in 2003 to 13.3% in 2016 for elevated blood pressure, and from 6.6% to 4.9% for hypertension.

Estimated sodium intake also decreased during this period from 3381 to 3208 mg/day. In the logistic regression analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, they found per 1000mg/day increase in sodium the odds of elevated blood pressure or hypertension was 1.18 (95% CI: 1.03-1.35).