Prevalence of high blood pressure in primary school children in Birjand-Iran

Abstract

Background and Aim: High blood pressure is a health problem in children. High blood pressure is a health problem in children, increasing of blood pressure during childhood predisposes children to hypertension in later life stages. In addition, high blood pressure during childhood is a risk factor to atherosclerosis in future the present study was conducted to determine prevalence of high blood pressure in primary schoolers in Birjand-Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 1521 primary schoolers, aged 6-11 yrs, in Birjand selected through randomized multiple cluster sampling. A demography questionnaire was filled out for each child and each one's blood pressure was measured using the standard method. Systolic or dyastolic blood pressure between 90 and 95 percentile with respect to age and gender was taken as prehypertension and B.P≥95 was accounted as hypertension. The obtained data was analysed by means of SPSS software (V: 15) using T test, X2, and ANOVA at the significant level P<0/05 . Results: overall prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was 11.6%, 7.4%, respectively regarding systolic blood pressure and 9.5%, and 0.9% for diastolic blood pressure, respectively. The most prevalence of prevalence was 13.5%. in obese children .With increasing age, mean systolic and diastolic pressure showed a significant increase. Conclusion: Prevalence of high blood pressure in Birjand children is high. Routine control of blood pressure and taking preventive measures to control obesity through lifestyle changes should be considered.

Keywords

• Primary Schoolers
• Hypertension
• Per- Hypertension
• Birjand