Summary
Introduction:
Hypertension is a major public health problem in contemporary times and it has high prevalence throughout the world.
Objective:
To investigate the situation of Systemic Arterial Hypertension in schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 years in Divinópolis/MG-Brazil and associated factors.
Method:
This is a cross-sectional, epidemiological, descriptive and analytical study, whose population was children aged 6 to 10 years enrolled in public schools in Divinópolis-MG-Brazil. Data collection was conducted from October 2014 to May 2015. Multivariate linear regressions were used to test associations between blood pressure, socioeconomic, anthropometric, dietary and physical activity.
Results:
The prevalence of hypertension was 15.2% in a sample of 284 children and mean values of systolic blood pressure of 101.7 (±13.2) mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 66.0 (±11.2) mmHg. The body fat percentage showed significant differences between the genders, with 24.2 and 26.2%, respectively for boys and girls. Significant associations were made between blood pressure levels, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, body fat percentage, consumption of yogurt, beef /chicken, beans, pizza, sandwich and some behaviors variables.
Conclusion:
The presented data show important aspects of school profile in the age range 6-10 years, especially related to the behavior of blood pressure.
Keywords:
hypertension; child; prevalence; obesity; epidemiology