The prevalence of elevated blood pressure in a sample of slovene children and adolescents: a pilot study
Article Category: Original scientific article
Published Online: Apr 12, 2018
Page range: 72 - 80
Received: Nov 19, 2016
Accepted: Jan 18, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2018-0010
Keywords
© 2018 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of prehypertensive and elevated blood pressure in the hypertensive range (elevated BP) and obtain some anthropometric measures in Slovene children and adolescents.
Methods
In the cross-sectional study lasting one year, we measured BP using mercury sphygmomanometers, as well as height, weight, waist, and hip circumferences in schools. Data from regular check-ups (oscillometric measurements) were also added to increase the sample size. Participants were 2-19 years old. For statistical analysis, we used two-sided multivariate analysis of variance, Pearson’s r, and chi-squared test.
Results
From altogether 1594 participants, 723 (45.4%) were boys and 871 (54.6%) girls. The prevalence of elevated BP on a single oscillometric blood-pressure measurement was 12.0% (95% CI: 10.3 to 13.9), and an additional 13.9% (95% CI: 12.0 to 15.9) had prehypertensive BP. In Riva-Rocci measurements, elevated BP was present in only 7.1% (95% CI: 4.9 to 10.1) and prehypertensive BP additionally in 3.9% (95% CI: 2.4 to 6.4) in comparison to oscillometric measurements, which showed higher prevalence. Importantly, overweight participants had a 1.75 times greater relative risk for prehypertensive BP (95% CI: 1.22 to 2.53; p<0.01). Obesity carried a 1.79 times greater relative risk (95% CI: 1.22 to 2.63; p<0.01) for BP outside of the normotensive BP range.
Conclusion
Arterial hypertension is becoming an important public health problem, especially due to the childhood obesity. It seems to concern also Slovene young population with prevalence of elevated BP at around 7.1% after a single auscultatory BP measurement.