Clinical parameters of adolescent Hispanic male hypertensive subjects: A new subset?

We have previously reported an increased prevalence of elevated blood pressure in Hispanic adolescent males. The pressure elevation did not correlate with weight. In this study, we evaluated the response to antihypertensive therapy of eight adolescent Hispanic males found to have elevated pressure during high school screening. All patients were placed on placebo tablets b.i.d. for 2 weeks with weekly blood pressure readings. Those with persistently elevated pressures (at or above the 95th percentile) underwent laboratory testing, exercise testing, and echocardiography. An age-matched group of Hispanic adolescents with blood pressure recording below the 90th percentile were also exercised. Patients were then placed on 0.1 mg clonidine b.i.d. for 12 weeks. Pretherapy exercise testing demonstrated an abnormal systolic hypertensive response (mean 193 ± 43 mmHg) that improved after therapy (mean 167 ± 28 mmHg). Echocardiographic data were normal. All patients had elevated levels of VLDL and triglycerides. Five patients also had HDL levels below the 50th percentile for age and sex. We conclude that this population is similar to other hypertensive adolescent populations in exercise response pre- and posttherapy with clonidine, but they demonstrated a unique clinical feature in the elevation of the VLDL and triglyceride lipoprotein fractions.