Systemic arterial hypertension, blood pressure levels and associated factors in schoolchildren

• Autor(a) principal: Heleno,Priscila
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Emerick,Luciana, Mourão,Nicole, Pereira,Diego, Santos,Isabela, Oliveira,Ana Sophia de, Santos,Luana, Bila,Wendell, Romano,Márcia Christina, Lamounier,Joel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302017001000869
• topic: hypertension; child; prevalence; obesity; epidemiology

Summary Introduction: Hypertension is a major public health problem in contemporary times and it has high prevalence throughout the world. Objective: To investigate the situation of Systemic Arterial Hypertension in schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 years in Divinópolis/MG-Brazil and associated factors. Method: This is a cross-sectional, epidemiological, descriptive and analytical study, whose population was children aged 6 to 10 years enrolled in public schools in Divinópolis-MG-Brazil. Data collection was conducted from October 2014 to May 2015. Multivariate linear regressions were used to test associations between blood pressure, socioeconomic, anthropometric, dietary and physical activity. Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 15.2% in a sample of 284 children and mean values of systolic blood pressure of 101.7 (±13.2) mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 66.0 (±11.2) mmHg. The body fat percentage showed significant differences between the genders, with 24.2 and 26.2%, respectively for boys and girls. Significant associations were made between blood pressure levels, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, body fat percentage, consumption of yogurt, beef /chicken, beans, pizza, sandwich and some behaviors variables. Conclusion: The presented data show important aspects of school profile in the age range 6-10 years, especially related to the behavior of blood pressure.