The association between serum copper concentrations and elevated blood pressure in US children and adolescents: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2016

BACKGROUND: Copper is an essential trace metal with potential interest for cardiovascular effects. Few studies have explored the association between copper and blood pressure in children and adolescents. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1242 children and adolescents aged 8–17 years who participated in the 2011 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Using 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, elevated blood pressure (EBP) was defined as a mean systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 90th percentile for sex, age, and height for children aged 1–12 years and systolic BP ≥ 120 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 80 mmHg for adolescent age 13–17 years. Mean serum copper was 114.17 μg/dL. RESULTS: After multiple adjustments, dose–response analyses revealed that EBP was associated with progressively higher serum copper concentrations in a nonlinear trend. In comparison with the lowest quartile of serum copper concentrations, the adjusted odds of EBP for the highest quartile was 5.26 (95% confidence interval, 2.76–10.03). CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that high serum copper concentrations were significantly associated with EBP in US children and adolescents.