The Influence of Microsocial Factors on the Formation of Arterial Hypertension in Schoolchildren

Abstract

Introduction. In recent years, there has been anincrease in the prevalence of hypertension in both adults andchildren. The discrepancy in the prevalence of the diseasein children is associated with the absence of a standardizedmethod of measuring blood pressure, uniform criteria forassessing its level, as well as the "hypodiagnostics" ofarterial hypertension in children. Attention should alsobe paid to the relatively low compliance of some childrenand adolescents in the treatment and awareness of the needto maintain a sufficient level of physical activity, healthyeating and prevention of bad habits.The aim of the study was to determine the influence ofmicrosocial factors on the formation of arterial hypertensionin schoolchildren.Material and research methods. 848 school - agechildren were examined and divided into the followinggroups: the first group consisted of 182 children withhypertension, the second group - 78 children with arterialprehypertension and the control group - 588 children withnormal blood pressure.Sociometric survey was conducted by collectinginformation about the peculiarities of diet and quality ofnutrition, physical activity and psychological factors inchildren using questionnaires. Blood pressure level wasmeasured with automatic tonometers with variable cuffs inthe morning on both hands, three times, with an intervalof 2 minutes. The results were evaluated according topercentile tables in terms of age, sex and height. Statisticalprocessing of the obtained data was performed usingMicrosoftOfficeExcel and Statistica 10.0.Results. Analyzing the psychological atmospherewithin the family, it was found that 585 (69.0%) childrencalled the situation within the family good and warm, 100(12.1%) thought that family conditions were bad and 138(16.3%) children did not decide on account of bad or goodrelations within the family.Assessing the peculiarities of nutrition among thesurveyed schoolchildren, it was found that children fromthe 1st group ate the most irrationally. They ate bread andbaked goods more often every day, meat and dairy productsa little less often, and vegetables and fruits even less often.Equally important factors influencing a child’s healthand development are the presence of physical activity, dailyroutine, walks in the fresh air, and so on. Another importantfactor that affects both the general health of the child andhis physical development is regular exercise in sections orclubs.Children from the 1st group have the lowest level ofregular sports, unbalanced diet, and more often havepsychological problems in relationships with peers andparents. Given the data of statistical analysis, thesemicrosocial factors can be regarded as risk factors for thedevelopment of hypertension in schoolchildren.Conclusions. According to the conducted correlativeand cluster analysis, three key groups of microsocial factorsthat affect the level of blood pressure in children can beidentified: the factor of balanced nutrition, psychosocialfactor and the factor of physical activity. The abovefactors are complex, they can be classified to the categoryof risk factors for the development of hypertension inschoolchildren and early prediction of increased bloodpressure in them.