Assessing the changes in overweight risk during school-age as well as its link with high blood pressure (HBP), it was found that transition from normal to overweight during teen years in children was associated with a high risk for HBP development. Results offer insights on patterns of overweight risks during childhood.

• Overweight during childhood has been shown to be significantly linked with higher risk of HBP in later life.

• This study included 17,816 school-aged children (53.9% boys) with a mean follow-up time of 8.2 years; 4 trajectories were defined as constant low, high decreasing, low rising, and constant high based on the change of overweight risk during follow-up.

• During follow-up, higher HBP risk was present in children with higher overweight risk.

• However, low HBP risk was observed at baseline in the low rising group, which rose to 3.14 for boys and 3.23 for girls at the endpoint, which were comparable to the relative risk in the constant high group (4.60 for boys and 5.28 for girls).