Introduction in the past, the need for regular blood pressure screening in children was doubtful, and the main reason against it is that hypertension is an adult illness and there is no evidence that screening healthy children for hypertension was worthwhile. We did this study to determine the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension as well as some risk factors for hypertension among secondary school adolescents in an urban area of the South-East, Nigeria. Methods this was a cross-sectional study of 984 adolescents aged 10-19 years in secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra state, South-East, Nigeria. The multi-stage sampling method was used to select the subjects. Data were collected from all eligible subjects with the aid of a questionnaire administered to them. Weight, height, and blood pressure were measured and recorded. Results nine hundred and eighty-four adolescents were recruited for this study, and they comprised 470 (47.8%) males and 514 (52.2%) giving a male: female ratio of 1:1.1. Their ages ranged from 10-19 years. The mean systolic blood pressure and mean diastolic BP were 110.5±10.2mmHg 71.5±8.5mmHg respectively. Prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension were 6.3% and 5.0% respectively. There were a higher proportion of females (7.3%) than males (5.4%) with hypertension, and more females (5.8%) than males (4.2%) with prehypertension but these were not statistically significant. Overweight and obesity were significantly associated with hypertension. Conclusion hypertension exists among secondary school adolescents in Awka South Local government area of Anambra state, with a prevalence of 6.3%. Early detection and treatment will forestall the early development of complications.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the MBJ20 ® transcutaneous bilirubinonometer by Beijing M&B Electronic Instrument Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China) in the assessment of severity of neonatal jaundice. Two hundred and twenty-two paired samples from 88 newborns aged between 28 and 44 weeks of gestation at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi Anambra State, were analyzed. These infants had total serum bilirubin (TSB) levels measured on clinical indication, and transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) levels were obtained at the forehead and sternum within 10 min of the TSB levels. There was a close correlation between TSB and TcBF and between TSB and TcBS for all the paired readings (n = 222, r = 0.904; n = 222, r = 0.917, respectively). MBJ20 values differed on average from the TSB values by 3.2 mg/dL for TcBF and 2.0 mg/dL for TcBs. We conclude that TcB measurements using the MBJ20 jaundice meter correlate very closely with TSB levels over the range of TSB encountered in this study and that estimation of TcB should be done at both the forehead and sternum.

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