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Poor diet, inactivity and obesity believed to have caused hypertension for millions of under-19s around the world

The rate of children and teenagers living with high blood pressure globally has nearly doubled because of a toxic combination of unhealthy diets, mass inactivity and soaring levels of obesity, according to the largest review of its kind.

Experts said 114 million children who have developed hypertension even before reaching adulthood were facing potentially deadly and lifelong harm, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and a myriad of serious health complications.

The prevalence of high blood pressure in children and teenagers under 19 has increased to 6.2%, rising from 3.2% in the space of just 20 years. The findings, based on a meta analysis of data from 96 studies involving more than 400,000 children across 21 countries, were published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.