The risk factors for elevated blood pressure and how to address cardiovascular risk factors: a review in paediatric populations

Abstract

This paper examines the epidemiology of hypertension and management strategies of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in paediatric populations in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world in the 21st century. A computerized literature search was carried out using Medline, Evidence-Based Child Health (A Cochrane Review Journal), the Cochrane Library and Cochrane Child Health Field. A manual search in the African Journal for physical, health education, recreation and dance, the South African Journal for Research in Sports, Physical Education and Recreation and a few individuals in the area were requested to send some of their recent unpublished and published reports in the field.High prevalence rates and high odds ratios for high blood pressure (BP) were recorded in children aged 5-17 years. There is a need for health ministries to improve the public health sector so as to close the gap between the rich and the poor. Although personal and parental responsibility remain crucial, it also falls on the government to help control powerful environmental factors that are leading our children to premature ill-health and mortality. Equally, health professionals are increasingly recognized that they have a significant role to play in delivering medical treatment of hypertension in children.

Prevalence and Determinants of Pre Hypertension and Hypertension among Urban High School Adolescents of Hyderabad

“…15 This gender difference may be attributed to hormonal changes that occur during puberty which had been noted to occur more rapidly in females than in males and also the stress associated with menarche could be one of the reason. 16 Significant association was found with the intake of junk food for the frequency of >=4 times a week in our study. Similarly Satyanarayanaetal found significant association with junk food intake among Hyderabad adolescents.…”

The relationship between strength measurements and anthropometric indicators (BMI and skinfold thickness) in Ellisras rural adolescents aged 9–15 years: Ellisras longitudinal study

“…The results were similar to a previous study by Must et al [36], who reported that underweight was significantly associated with poor strength among Indian youth. Physiologically, this could be due to poor dietary or energy intake that leads to underweight and poor strength [5,37]. Furthermore, thinner people often have poor strength, higher illness prevalence, and greater mortality than those with…”

“…It increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases among children and adults in the developed and developing countries [2][3][4][5]. body mass index (bMI) has been used widely as an indicator for malnutrition, although it has been recently argued that bMI reflects also the relative leg length, body frame size, and fat free mass in addition to fatness [6,7].…”

The relationship between sitting height, sitting height to height ratio with blood pressure among Polokwane private school children aged 6–13 years

“…The BP and anthropometric measurements were taken directly; hence, recall or estimation bias will not prevail in our study. In addition, we measured BP during early childhood, signifying that early monitoring should commence from children's early days in order to identify and screen individuals that show vulnerability to associated risk factors [24].…”