Distribution of blood pressure & correlates of hypertension in school children aged 5-14 years from North east India

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Elevated blood pressure (BP) in the young predicts serious cardiovascular events in the adults. High prevalence of adult hypertension reported from Assam, North East (NE) India may be linked with elevated blood pressure in the childhood. The present study was an attempt to describe the distribution of BP and correlates of hypertension in children aged 5-14 yr. METHODS: A total of 10,003 school children from 99 schools of Dibrugarh district, Assam, NE India, were surveyed by stratified random cluster method. Blood pressure, demographic and anthropometric information were recorded. Blood pressure was categorized in to normal, prehypertension, stage I and stage II hypertension. RESULTS: Girls had significantly higher (104.2 ± 12.0 vs. 103.2 ± 11.6 mm Hg, P<0.001) mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) than boys. Both SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) revealed significant correlation with age, height, weight and BMI in overall and in gender specific analysis. Hypertension was found in 7.6 per cent school children (Boys: 7.3%, Girls: 7.8%). In multivariable analysis older age (OR 3.3, 95% CI: 2.82-3.91), children from tea garden community (OR 1.3, 95% CI: 1.08-1.55) and other community (OR 1.4, 95% CI: 1.18-1.73) and overweight (OR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2.1) were independently associated with hypertension. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Mean blood pressure in the young school children of 5-14 yr was high. A programme comprising screening, early detection and health promotion through school health programmes may help prevent future complications of hypertension.