Author/Authors :
Mohkam, Masoumeh shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Karimi, Abdollah shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Eslami, Narges shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Khatami, Alireza shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Fallah, Fatemeh shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Maham, Saiid shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Jadali, Farzaneh shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران , Abdollah Gorji, Fatemeh shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - Pediatric Infectious Research Center, تهران, ايران
Abstract :
Introduction. Hypertension is one of the most common diseases in the world and a major risk factor for cardiovascular, renal, and neurologic diseases. It seems that hypertension and overweight in children are a growing epidemic. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension in school-aged children in Tehran. Materials and Methods. In a cross-sectional study, blood pressureand anthropometric measurements were performed on school-aged children in Tehran from 2008 to 2009. Children aged 7 to 11 years from 5 public schools in Tehran were included. Blood pressure,weight, and height measurement were performed at the school. At each screening, 3 seated blood pressure, weight, and height measurements were made and at least after 3 minutes of rest andchoosing proper cuff, blood pressure was measured by a pediatric nephrologist and a pediatric assistant. Results. A total of 425 school-aged children were included. Twentyfour percent of the primary school children had hypertension and 12% were shown to be overweight. Hypertension was more common in students of the north of Tehran in comparison to other geographic parts of Tehran. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of hypertension between girl students of north ofTehran and girls of the other parts of Tehran. Conclusions. We concluded that hypertension is a common problem in school-aged children. Our study re-emphasized the need for prevention and control of high blood pressure in children to manage the global diseases burden due to hypertension.
Keywords :
adolescent , hypertension , overweight , prevalence
