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Prevalence of arterial hypertension and obesity in seven year old children

Introduction: Hypertension is closely related with obesity in children because of bad diet and lack of physical activity. Aim was to show prevalence of increased values of arterial blood pressure in 7 year old children and its relation with obesity and overweight. Methods: The arterial blood pressure has been measured 3 times. Normal blood pressure: values at or lower than the 90th percentile. Blood pressure levels above the 90th percentile but lower than the 95th percentile are termed as prehypertension. Hypertension is defined as values of blood pressure at or above the 95th percentile for gender, age and height. Nutritional status was calculated by the WHO classification criteria: overweight (85th and 95th pct.), obesity (BMI >95th pct.), underweight (BMI ≤ 5–10 pct.) Results: During our research we have examined 447 children by the age of 7 years old (range age was from 6.1 till 7.8). Proporition of boys and girls was almost equal (51.45%:48.55%). Elevated values of arterial blood pressure had 6.04% examinees (3.13% girls and 2.90% boys). Girls had statistically higher values of the arterial blood pressure than boys (p=0.13667). Prehypertension was registered in 3.58% and hypertension was detected in 2.46%. Obesity as a risk factor for hypertension was registered in 50 persons (11.88%), and 18% had hypertension. Overweight was detected in 64 persons (14.31%), and 12.5% had hypertension. Children with normal weight had hypertension in 2.9% and underweight children in 5.3%. Conclusion: Obesity is a very important factor for developing hypertension in children. In our research adipose and overweight children had significantly higher values of arterial blood pressure than children with normal values of BMI. Hypertension in childhood is a great risk for developing future cardiovascular disorders, with proper prevention we can prevent long-term consequences.

arterial hypertension; obesity; children

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