Chelo David, Mah Evelyn M, Chiabi Edmond N, Chiabi Andreas, Koki Ndombo Paul Olivier, Kingue Samuel, Obama Marie Therese
Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon.
Transl Pediatr. 2019 Dec;8(5):391-397. doi: 10.21037/tp.2019.03.02.
There has been a progressive increase in hypertension among children and adolescents over the years. Hypertension in childhood is influenced by various risk factors including; childhood obesity, lifestyle and hereditary factors. This study is aimed at assessing the prevalence of hypertension and elevated blood pressure (BP); as well as the associated factors to hypertension among primary school children in a rural setting in the, Centre Region of Cameroon.
A cross sectional study was carried out from November 2017 to May 2018 in 13 primary schools in Mbankomo subdivision. A two staged cluster sampling technique was used to select participants: the first stage we conveniently selected 13 out of 71 (18%) primary schools in the study area by probability proportionate to size since the subdivision does not have an equal number of primary schools in the rural and semi-urban areas. In the second stage, we also used probability proportional to size to randomly select participants from the 13 clusters because the classes did not have equal number of students. We randomly selected 13% pupils enrolled in each class of the 13 schools. BP and anthropometric measurements were taken, together with socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and past history.
The overall prevalence of hypertension among the 822 pupils sampled was 1.6% (with 1.5% in stage I and 0.1% in stage II) and that of elevated BP was 8.1%, with a systolic predominance of 1.6%. SBP and DBP had a significant positive correlation with age (r=0.17; P=0.000 and r=0.07; P=0.000 respectively) and BMI (r=0.18; P=0.000 and r=0.11; P=0.000 respectively). The associated risk factors for hypertension were: the pupil's age >10 years (95% CI: 1.2581-33.1841; P=0.0254), family history of overweight (95% CI: 1.6906-32.9401; P=0.008), and excess weight (95% CI: 2.5094-40.7063; P=0.0011), and being born at term (P=0.0004) as a protecting factor.
This study revealed a high prevalence of hypertension among primary school children in rural areas, with a number of preventable risk factors. Considering the risk factors found, children should be educated on proper nutrition, and the need for physical exercises at home and in school to avoid overweight and obesity.
多年来，儿童和青少年中的高血压患病率呈逐渐上升趋势。儿童高血压受多种风险因素影响，包括儿童肥胖、生活方式和遗传因素。本研究旨在评估喀麦隆中部地区一个农村环境中，小学生高血压和血压升高的患病率，以及与高血压相关的因素。
2017年11月至2018年5月在姆班科莫分区的13所小学进行了一项横断面研究。采用两阶段整群抽样技术选择参与者：第一阶段，由于该分区农村和半城市地区的小学数量不相等，我们按照规模比例概率从研究区域的71所小学中方便地选取了13所（18%）。在第二阶段，我们也按照规模比例概率从这13个群组中随机选择参与者，因为每个班级的学生数量不相等。我们从13所学校的每个班级中随机选取13%的学生。测量了血压和人体测量数据，以及社会人口学特征、生活方式和既往病史。
在抽样的822名学生中，高血压的总体患病率为1.6%（I期为1.5%，II期为0.1%），血压升高的患病率为8.1%，收缩压占优势，为1.6%。收缩压（SBP）和舒张压（DBP）与年龄（r = 0.17；P = 0.000和r = 0.07；P = 0.000）以及体重指数（BMI）（r = 0.18；P = 0.000和r = 0.11；P = 0.000）均呈显著正相关。高血压的相关风险因素为：学生年龄>10岁（95%置信区间：1.2581 - 33.1841；P = 0.
