Said Jida, Salim Nahya, Kunambi Peter P, Furia Francis
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, School of Clinical Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
St. Joseph's Mission Hospital, Peramiho, Ruvuma, Tanzania.
Ital J Pediatr. 2025 Mar 19;51(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s13052-025-01841-y.
Childhood hypertension has become a public health problem due to its increasing prevalence and complications; the high prevalence is noted to mirror an increase in obesity among children. Hypertension in children is frequently undiagnosed due to challenges in getting appropriate cuff sizes and interpretation of the readings. Several studies have been carried out among children however; most of available information is focused on hypertension among older children and adolescents.
A cross sectional study was conducted in 2 districts of Dar es Salaam region namely Ilala and Kinondoni from October to November 2020. Children aged 2-5 years attending pre-schools in these districts meeting the inclusion criteria and whose parent/guardian signed informed consent were included. Questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic characteristics; anthropometric and three oscillometric single- occasion blood pressure measurements were taken. The average blood pressure was compared to the standard charts for age and sex provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics 2017 to determine the blood pressure category of the child.
A total of 1083 children fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were enrolled into the study, 51.3% (556/1083) of participants were males and the median age was 4 years (IQR 3-5). Blood pressures for 252 (23.3%) participants were in the high blood pressure range (19.8% with elevated blood pressure and 3.5% with hypertension). No significant gender difference was observed among those with high blood pressure. Factors that were noted to be significantly associated with elevated blood pressure included low birth weight (p = 0.036), increasing age (p = 0.032) and body mass index (p < 0.001).
High prevalence of elevated blood pressure in this population of pre-school aged children is alarming. Low birth weight, increasing age and body mass index were significantly associated with elevated blood pressure.
儿童高血压因其患病率和并发症不断增加已成为一个公共卫生问题；据指出，高患病率反映出儿童肥胖现象的增加。由于难以获得合适的袖带尺寸以及解读测量读数，儿童高血压常常未被诊断出来。然而，已有多项针对儿童的研究开展；现有的大部分信息都集中在大龄儿童和青少年的高血压问题上。
2020年10月至11月在达累斯萨拉姆地区的伊拉拉和基农多尼两个区进行了一项横断面研究。纳入了在这些地区符合纳入标准且其家长/监护人签署知情同意书的2至5岁学龄前儿童。使用问卷收集社会人口学特征；进行人体测量并测量三次示波法单次血压。将平均血压与美国儿科学会2017年提供的年龄和性别标准图表进行比较，以确定儿童的血压类别。
共有1083名儿童符合资格标准并纳入研究，51.3%（556/1083）的参与者为男性，中位年龄为4岁（四分位间距3 - 5岁）。252名（23.3%）参与者的血压处于高血压范围（血压升高者占19.8%，高血压患者占3.5%）。在高血压患者中未观察到显著的性别差异。被发现与血压升高显著相关的因素包括低出生体重（p = 0.036）、年龄增长（p = 0.032）和体重指数（p < 0.001）。
这群学龄前儿童中高血压患病率之高令人担忧。低出生体重、年龄增长和体重指数与血压升高显著相关。
