Risk Factors For Hypertension Start Young

A new study revealed that some African or African American children already experience high nighttime blood pressure by age ten. As such, the early occurrence of imminent cardiovascular disease is signaled. Furthermore, the research also uncovered that African American children demonstrated greater rises in nighttime blood pressure as they grow up. This was found, as the study progressed to follow such research subjects to age fifteen and over with their blood pressures monitored.

The research also displayed that African Americans experience a lesser decrease in nighttime blood pressure as compared to such of Caucasians. Moreover, the difference between the measurements of blood pressure among Caucasians and African Americans increases as the children grow older.

According to Dr. Gregory Harshfield, director of MCG’s Georgia Prevention Institute and a co-author on the study, blood pressure in the evening should decrease because the body is usually at rest.

A factor for recording a higher nighttime blood pressure among African Americans is their higher sodium retention. Sodium is responsible for the increase in the volume of fluid and consequently, blood pressure.

Dr. Frank Treiber, the vice president for research and the study co-author, measured the ambulatory blood pressures of almost 700 children 12 times during 15 years. This was done in order to ascertain the differences in blood pressures in both African American and Caucasian children and to also verify the ages in which such disparities occurred.

Dr. Xiaoling Wang, genetic epidemiologist and the study’s lead author, said that most previous researches have only examined at a cross section of people. Their fifteen-year study allowed the scientists to observe one population over an extended period of time. Such method had allowed the researchers to identify the ages in which such problems begin to occur. Through this extended observation, the research team was able to note that the said problems start as early as age ten.

Although the researchers controlled factors, such as height, body mass index, socioeconomic status, and stress-related coping strategies, ethnic differences between the African American and Caucasian subjects were still measurable throughout the research. It was noted from testing subjects of African descent, living outside the United States, that such recorded normal nighttime blood pressure.

Dr. Wang explained that such high blood pressure problem is not only brought about by genes but is likely caused by factors in the environment, such as salt intake and stress. Studies have already proven that stress can bring about sodium retention.

Another method of determining sodium efficiency of blood is through live blood cell analysis or live blood analysis. Live blood analysis is the surveillance and examination of live blood cells with the employment of a high resolution darkfield compound microscope. This method of observation is commonly known as darkfield microscopy.

Live blood analysis incorporates taking a blood sample through a tiny pin prick on the fingertip. Then, such single drop of blood sample is positioned under a specially tailored microscope, known as the darkfield compound microscope. A darkfield compound microscope is a high powered piece of equipment that is equipped with a darkfield condenser. This special feature of the darkfield microscope illuminates biological samples from the sides, not from the below. With the aid of an attached camera, a darkfield compound microscope is connected to a video screen for better viewing. The image viewed through such video screen is the 20,000 times magnification of the tiny blood sample. Since the blood is still living, activities in the blood can be observed such as that of yeasts, molds, bacteria, parasites, immune system activity, allergies, hormonal imbalances, sugar intolerances, to name a few.