Prevalence of hypertension in healthy school children in Pakistan and its relationship with body mass index, proteinuria and hematuria.

To determine the prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) in healthy school Pakistani children and its association with high body mass index (BMI), asymptomatic hematuria and proteinuria, we studied 661 public school children and measured their body weight, height and BP and urine dipstick for hematuria performed on a single occasion. Hypertension (BP >95 th centile) and pre-hypertension (BP >90 th centile) were defined based on the US normative BP tables. Over-weight and obesity were defined according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of BMI. The mean age of the children was 14 ± 1.3 years. The mean BMI was 18.5 ± 4.3 kg/m 2 . The majority (81.8%) of the children were found to be normotensive (BP <90 th centile). Pre-hypertension was observed in 15% and hypertension in 3% of the children. Overweight was observed in 7.7% and obesity in 1% of the children. The independent risk factors for hypertension and pre-hypertension were age of the child (RR 1.2 95% CI 1-1.4), gender (RR 2.0 for being female 95% CI 1-4.4), BMI >25 (RR for BMI b/w 25-30 = 2.6, RR for BMI >30 = 4.3), positive urine dipstick for proteinuria (RR = 2.3 95% CI 0.7-7.7) and positive urine dipstick for hematuria (RR 1.0 95% CI 0.2-8.3). Hypertension in children is strongly correlated with obesity, asymptomatic proteinuria and hematuria. Community based screening programs for children should include BP recording, BMI assessment and urine dipsticks analysis and approach high-risk groups for early detection and lifestyle modifications.