Teen Boys Have Greater High Blood Pressure Risk than Teen Girls

Research conducted by Kaberi Dasgupta, MD, of the McGill University Health Center, and published in the journal Circulation, indicates that teenage boys are at higher risk for developing high blood pressure than are teenage girls.

This research was inspiried by the increasing numbers of adolescent boys and young men (18-25) who are being diagnosed with high blood pressure.

The study concluded that systolic blood pressures tend to increase by about 20% per year in boys, but remain steady in girls; a finding which may explain the increased diagnosis of high blood pressure in young men.

Evidence suggests that these differences may equalize in the setting of oral contraceptive use.