Abstract

In India and other developing countries, childhood hypertension is an underreported problem, and it is frequently reported in adults. A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2016 reported 10.2 million deaths and 208 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) in hypertensive patients. Increased blood pressure (BP) has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and end-stage renal disease in both the paediatric and adult populations. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Children between 3 and 15 years of age who visited the outpatient & inpatient Department of Pediatrics, Kakatiya Medical College and MGM Hospital, Hanumakonda, were screened for the presence of hypertension between January 2022 to December 2022. After explaining the intent of this study, its objective & its methodology to the parents of all children who were included in the study a written consent from parents / guardian accompanied were taken. Hypertension was classified according to fourth report. Systematic investigations were done to find out the aetiology of hypertension. Results: Blood pressure was measured, BMI of all patients was calculated and a predesigned proforma was filled which included the details about each patient. Maximum number of patients were in age group of 3 to 9 (total 30 patients) 48.3 %. Second maximum number of patients were age group of 12 to 15 yrs. (total 20 patients) 32.2 %. On age group of 9 to 12 yrs. (total 12 patients) 19.3 %. In the study maximum number of patients were underweight, 56 patients (90.3 %) with BMI <18.5, followed in frequency with 4 patients (6.4 %) having BMI 18.5-25, 2 patients having BMI > 25. Conclusion: It has been observed that minimum number of patients were in age group 9-12 years patients (19.3 %) and maximum number of patients were in the age group 3 - 9 years (51.6 %) with a M : F ratio of 1 : 0.93. and the main aetiology of hypertension was found to be nephrotic syndrome. In this study maximum patients were underweight; there was no relation between increasing weight and hypertension.

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