A obesidade e a hipertensão arterial em idade pediátrica – a propósito de uma população em crescimento

European researchers define overweight as equal to or above the 85th percentile and obesity as above the 95th percentile of body mass index (BMI). Although the Mediterranean diet has been awarded UNESCO intangible cultural heritage status, childhood obesity has such a high incidence in Portugal that it has become the sixth country in the European Union with a prevalence of overweight and obesity of over 30%. The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has established the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) in 15 European countries with the aim of regularly assessing trends in overweight and obesity among schoolchildren aged six to nine years (the annual meeting of this group was held in Lisbon last July). This age-group is also the focus of the article by Fraporti et al. entitled ‘‘Cardiovascular risk factors in children’’ published in this issue of the Journal, which included 709 schoolchildren. It is interesting to compare the results