ABSTRACT
Hypertension is considered, singly, as an important risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease (Williams et al., 2002). This fact becomes especially worrisome when high blood pressure (HBP) has already manifested itself in childhood and adolescence (Chiolero et al., 2007). A period marked by numerous changes related to growth and development toward the mature state, which shows that children in the same chronological age may present variation in relation to the status in biological maturity. These differences may influence several morphological, physiological and behavioural transformations (Malina et al., 2004), among which the relationship between HBP and biological maturity remains to be investigated. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between somatic maturity, physical activity and HBP in adolescents.
