No abstract

Background & objectives:Elevated blood pressure (BP) in the young predicts serious cardiovascular events in the adults. High prevalence of adult hypertension reported from Assam, North East (NE) India may be linked with elevated blood pressure in the childhood. The present study was an attempt to describe the distribution of BP and correlates of hypertension in children aged 5-14 yr.Methods:A total of 10,003 school children from 99 schools of Dibrugarh district, Assam, NE India, were surveyed by stratified random cluster method. Blood pressure, demographic and anthropometric information were recorded. Blood pressure was categorized in to normal, prehypertension, stage I and stage II hypertension.Results:Girls had significantly higher (104.2 ± 12.0 vs. 103.2 ± 11.6 mm Hg, P<0.001) mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) than boys. Both SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) revealed significant correlation with age, height, weight and BMI in overall and in gender specific analysis. Hypertension was found in 7.6 per cent school children (Boys: 7.3%, Girls: 7.8%). In multivariable analysis older age (OR 3.3, 95% CI: 2.82-3.91), children from tea garden community (OR 1.3, 95% CI: 1.08-1.55) and other community (OR 1.4, 95% CI: 1.18-1.73) and overweight (OR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2.1) were independently associated with hypertension.Interpretation & conclusions:Mean blood pressure in the young school children of 5-14 yr was high. A programme comprising screening, early detection and health promotion through school health programmes may help prevent future complications of hypertension.

Our IEC module created awareness about risk of hypertension associated with high salt intake and could reduce dietary salt intake and BP.

A cross sectional study on hypertension was done on 294 subjects aged 30 years and above. 150 households were selected randomly representing 50 households from each locality inhabited exclusively by the rural Mizos, indigenous rural Assamese and the tea-garden workers respectively, in the northeastern region of India. Blood pressure was measured by sphygmo-manometer in sitting posture. Anthro-pometric measurements were taken using standard procedure for measuring height, weight, waist and hip girth. Information on age, sex, ethnicity, literacy, alcohol intake, smoking pattern, physical activity, occupation, amount of salt consumption was collected using a standard and pre-tested questionnaire. Significant differences were observed in both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels among the three different ethnic groups selected for this study (p < 0.0001). Multiple regression analyses indicated that in Mizos, age, waist circumference and alcohol intake were independently associated with increase in systolic blood pressure whereas smoking was found to be negatively associated with systolic blood pressure (R2 = 0.391, p < 0.001). Factors, which were the best predictors of diastolic blood pressure, were age and body mass index [(kg/m2) (R2 = 0.227, p < 0.001)]. In the rural Assamese population, the best predictors of systolic blood pressure were age and waist circumference (R2 = 0.263, p = 0.018). For the diastolic blood pressure, age, alcohol intake and body mass index were important correlates (R2 = 0.131, p < 0.001). In the tea garden community, important predictors of systolic blood pressure were age, gender and marital status (R2 = 0.187, p < 0.001). On the other hand, age and alcohol intake were best predictors for diastolic blood pressure (R2 = 0.09, p < 0.001).

Objective Hypertension is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. With increasing age there is differential rise of systolic and diastolic blood pressure leading to development of various hypertension subtypes which have its own clinical implications. Present study assessed distribution and risk factors of hypertensive subtypes in the hill tribe of Mizoram. Methods The present study was a community-based cross-sectional study carried out in Aizawl, Mizoram representing both rural (fourteen villages) and urban (six wards) population and which were selected by PPS method. Individuals aged 18 years and above providing informed verbal consent were included for collection of sociodemographic and clinical data including blood pressure. Of the total 12,313 subjects (Urban: 5853, Rural: 6460) & (Male: 5459, Female: 6854) surveyed, 549 hypertensive subjects who were under antihypertensive treatment were excluded. Hypertension subtype was defined as per standard guidelines. Results Out of 11,764 study individuals, 88.03% (CI: 87.43–88.61) were normotensive and 11.97% (CI: 11.39–12.57) individuals were hypertensive. Prevalence of ISH, IDH and SDH were 241(2.05%), 403 (3.43%) and 764 (6.49%) respectively. Older age, unmarried participants, physical inactivity and obesity are found to be associated with ISH. Male gender, older age, higher educational status, physical inactivity, consumption of extra salt, alcohol consumption, use of tuibur and high BMI were significantly associated with SDH. Conclusions The overall prevalence of hypertension with its subtypes specifically isolated systolic hypertension are low in this hill tribe of Mizoram. It is the right time for initiating intervention programme to modify the risk factors associated with hypertension.