Student Researcher Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Background: Despite how common youth-onset hypertension (HTN) is and the risks associated with it, the precise nature of how sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) may contribute to HTN in youth remain poorly understood. SSBs include any fruit-flavored drink, sports drink or soda that contains sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose. SSBs are a major contributor to added processed sugars within an adolescent's diet and have very poor nutritional quality. Habitual intake of SSBs have been associated with a higher risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disorders in adults and youth. Clinicians utilize a two-question screener to predict risk for high SSB consumption in pediatric patients, however, this screener has not been validated in youth with HTN disorders. Further, prevalence of SSB intake in youth with HTN is unknown, so it is unclear if SSB screeners have utility in subspecialty clinics. Objective: Estimate the prevalence of high SSB consumption in youth with HTN disorders.
Validate the SSB two-question screener used in a HTN subspecialty clinic Design/Methods: Prospective, cross-sectional study of youth with HTN disorders who receive care at a tertiary care HTN clinic. Our study is IRB-approved and we are obtaining written informed consent and assent. Data is obtained through patient and caregiver participant questionnaires, including the BEVQ-15 and two-question SSB clinical screener. We are defining our exposure of high SSB intake as two or more SSBs per day. We performed a one-sample Z test for binomial proportions for our power and sample size calculations and identified a target sample size of 34 participants. We estimate high SSB intake prevalence to be 65%, compared to 43% prevalence reported in the literature of the general pediatric population. We will use a one-sample Z test to compare prevalence and we will use the Bland-Altmant method and related tests to validate the screener. By October 2023, we have enrolled 14 participants, and we will complete enrollment by March 1st, 2024.
