%0 Journal Article %T Relaci¨®n entre el ¨ªndice de masa corporal y las cifras de tensi¨®n arterial en adolescentes %A Camacho-Camargo %A Nolis %A Alvarado %A Jorge %A Paoli %A Mariela %A Molina %A Zarela %A Cicchetti %A Rosanna %A Santiago %A Justo %A Huber %A Ana %A Molina %A Yudisay %J Revista Venezolana de Endocrinolog¨ªa y Metabolismo %D 2009 %I Sociedad Venezolana de Endocrinolog¨ªa y Metabolismo %X objective: to investigate the relationship between body mass index (bmi) and the blood pressure (bp) values in adolescents of the city of m¨¦rida, given its association with the development of non-transmissible chronic diseases in adults. methods: we studied 385 adolescents, 62.3% female and 37.7% male, between 12 and 15 years of age, with average of 15.17 ¡À 1.71 years. anthropometric measures and blood pressure (bp) were taken. the body mass index (bmi) was calculated. bmi and bp between 10th and 90th percentile from venezuelan curves, according to age and sex, were considered normal. obesity/overweight and pre-hypertension/hypertension (pre-hta/hta) were considered when the bmi and the bp were located above the 90th percentile. results: a total of 75.3% of the adolescents had a normal bmi, 11.2% a low bmi and 13.6% had overweight and obesity. the systolic bp was above the 90th percentile in 1.1% and the diastolic bp in 6.3% of the adolescents. no association was observed between bmi and bp with the sex and socio-economic stratum. it was found a high and significant association between overweight/obesity and pre-hta/hta (p=0.0001). the risk for pre-hta/hta of an adolescent with a bmi over 90th percentile was 9.76 times higher (odss ratio) than in adolescents with a bmi less than 90th percentile (95% ci 4.09-23.27; p = 0.0001). conclusion: it was found a statistical association between bmi and the values of systolic and diastolic bp. those adolescents with high bmi should be monitored and subject to any intervention aimed at reducing the incidence of non-transmissible chronic diseases in adulthood. %K adolescent %K overweight %K obesity %K hypertension. %U http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1690-31102009000200003&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en