Salud Pública de México (Nov 2000)
Diagnóstico y prevalencia de hipertensión arterial en menores de 19 años en la ciudad de Colima Diagnosis and prevalence of high blood pressure in children aged under 19 in Colima City
Abstract
OBJETIVO: Estimar la prevalencia de hipertensión arterial en menores de 19 años de Colima, Colima, México. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Estudio transversal realizado en 1992 a partir de las mediciones de la tensión arterial (TA) de 400 menores, distribuidos por sexo y edad. Se calcularon: promedio, varianza y Anova por edad; coeficientes de correlación y determinación entre edad y TA; se compararon los grupos con pruebas t de Student, F y U de Mann-Whitney con Z para sexos seleccionados según la curva de distribución; asimismo, se calculó percentil 95 para definir cifras anormales. RESULTADOS: El coeficiente de correlación es lineal, el de determinación lo confirma, se distinguen con pOBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of high blood pressure among young children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted in 1992 in Colima City, Mexico. Blood pressure readings were obtained from 400 children aged under 19. Statistical analysis consisted of calculation of means, variance, and Anova by group age. Association between age and blood pressure was assessed with correlation and determination coefficients. Comparisons by sex were made using Student's t, F, Mann-Whitney's U, and Z tests. Percentile 95th was used to define normal figures. RESULTS: A lineal correlation coefficient was found and confirmed by the determination coefficient. Groups where this association was statistically significant at p<0.01 were: a) children aged under 2; b) children from 2 to 13 years of age; and c) those over 13 years of age. High blood pressure figures for each group were: a) 92/50 mm/Hg; 110/70 mm/Hg; and 133/84 mm/Hg, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of high blood pressure in younger children may be 8% for systolic pressure and 9% for diastolic pressure.
