Abstract:
Aim and objectives: Hypertension has been shown to start in early life and
may lead to irreversible damages in vital organs, such as heart, brain and
kidney. Detecting hypertension and prehypertension in childhood will aid
early intervention and reduce morbidity and mortality from the disorders.
This cross sectional study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of
hypertension in children aged 6 to 12 years in Dhaka city.
Subjects and methods: We selected schools purposively located in different
areas of socio-economical strata. A total of 1768 students were interviewed
about their diet and physical activities, followed by taking of their
anthropometric measurements of height, weight and waist circumference.
The body mass index was computed as BMI=wt in kg/ht in m2. Blood pressure
was measured using standard protocol.
Results: The comparison of mean (SD) value of height, weight, BMI, between
boys and girls were found higher in boys than girls except at age 12, most of
the mean values of the girls (12y) were found significantly higher than boys
and p- value was <.05. In case of SBP and DBP girls had found higher mean
(SD) value than boys.
High systolic blood pressure was seen in 4.0% of children and 8.8% of children
had prehypertension. 4.9% participants had high diastolic blood pressure
and 13.2% were prehypertensive. 15.7% of obese children had hypertension,
versus 8.4% of overweight children and 3.2% of normal BMI children. Children
with family history of hypertension had hypertension and prehypertension
in 5.3% and 11.7% cases respectively, as compared to other children in which
the prevalence was only 3.3% and 7.3% respectively.
Conclusion: The prevalence of both hypertension and prehypertension are
considerably high. The results also showed that BMI and family history of the
disease were important parameter in hypertension in such a study group.
Further study may be undertaken encompassing the larger population for
assessment of the magnitude and risk of childhood hypertension in Bangladesh.
Key words: Hypertension, Obesity, School Children.
[Chest & Heart Journal 2013; 37.