A study of blood pressure in school children between the age of 6-12 years in Chennai, India: a cross sectional study
Background: Blood pressure measurements in childhood are an important clinical examination. Present study was done to evaluate the normal range of blood pressure (BP) in children aged 6-12 years and to find its relationship with regard to age, sex, height and weight criteria and comparing the values with the available standards.Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was done in primary and middle schools of Chennai from January 2016 to May 2017. Three readings of blood pressure were recorded for each subject and were correlated with age, gender, socioeconomic status and anthropometry. Data was analysed on SPSS 20.0. P value of <0.05 was considered significantResults: A total of 2002 children (1026 boys, 976 girls) of age between 6-12 years were examined over 18 months. There was an upward trend in both systolic (r = 0.437, P<0.001) and diastolic BP (r = 0.386, P <0.001) with age. There was no statistically significant difference in mean systolic and diastolic BP with gender (P = 0.10), weight (P = 0.10) and height (P = 0.10). There was a statistically significant difference between the mean systolic and diastolic BP between low and high socio-economic groups (P <0.0001). The proportion of children with hypertension was 9.54% with a slight female preponderance.Conclusions: Blood pressure measurement in children is pivotal in clinical examination. It shows a linear relationship with age and varies across socio-economic status. Periodic recording of BP would enable identify hypertension at an early age.