ABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the association between the combined effect of height growth and overweight/obesity with elevated blood pressure in Chinese children.@*Methods@#Based on a cohort study of puberty development in Xiamen, a cluster sampling method was used to select 1 313 children whose complete height, weight and blood pressure levels at baseline were obtained in 2017 and during a follow up in 2019. The incidence of elevated blood pressure was compared between four different subgroups, and multivariate Logistic regression was performed to analyze the combined effect in boys and girls.@*Results@#Among 1 313 children, the prevalence of elevated blood pressure at baseline was 25.2%. After 2 years of follow up, the incidence of elevated blood pressure was 19.7% and 23.4% in boys, and 16.6% in girls. After adjusting for factors including age, sex, family history of hypertension, sleep time, intake of fruits, vegetables, sugar sweetened beverages, and meat products, multivariate Logistic regression analyses showed that children in the high height growth and overweight/obesity group were more likely to exhibit a higher incidence of elevated blood pressure (overall:RR=2.41，95%CI=1.44-4.04；boys：RR=2.69，95%CI=1.45-5.02). Among girls, the risk of elevated blood pressure in the low height growth and overweight/obesity group also increased significantly (RR=4.47, 95%CI=1.45-13.75).@*Conclusion@#A large magnitude of height growth and being overweight/obesity were associated with elevated blood pressure in children, especially boys. Therefore, interventions that are targeted toward obesity prevention in children before pubertal growth spurts in height may be beneficial to reduce childhood high blood pressure.