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Introduction. High blood pressure (HBP) in children and adolescents are often an entity underdiagnosed. An increase in cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) has been recently reported in adolescents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of hypertension and pre-hypertension and the risk factors associated to hypertension in Mexican adolescents.

Methods. Cross-sectional study was realized in adolescents, both genders between 15 and 19 years of age. Clinical variables age, sex, weight, height, body mass index, blood pressure, family history of diabetes and hypertension,  weeks of gestation at birth were obtained and blood samples were collected for measurement of cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein, very low density lipoproteins, high density lipoproteins, uric acid and serum insulin. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 18.0.

Results. 384 adolescents between 15 and 18 years old were studied. Of those studied, 291 (75.8%) are female and 93 (24.2%) male. Hypertension was found in a 6% of all adolescents, Pre-Hypertension in 9.4% and normal BP in 84.6%. The relationships between systolic blood pressure and glucose (r= 0.170; P= 0.001), TCh (r= 0.119; P= 0.020), HDL (r= -0.147; P= 0.004) y LDL (r= 0.166; P= 0.001) were realized. Male sex (RR:3.97; 95%CI:2.51-6.27), family history of hypertension (RR:3.81; 95%CI:2.39-6.05) and obesity (RR:3.29; 95%CI:2.11-5.15) were risk factors involved in the development of hypertension.

Conclusions. We found a 6% of frequency of hypertension and 9% of Pre-hypertension. Male sex and family history of hypertension were the risk factors more associated for hypertension in adolescents. It is necessary to realize longitudinal studies with a specific methodology and laboratory studies for analyzing the impact of traditional risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease in adolescents.