Prevalence of Hypertension among School Children in Puducherry

Hypertension in childhood is now recognized to be a common and serious problem with a prevalence of 2% to 5%. Early identification of children at risk for hypertension, proper evaluation and appropriate management are important to prevent the serious, long – term complications associated with the condition. The present study was undertaken in this direction, to estimate the prevalence of hypertension and identify the risk factors in among school children (11 – 17 years) in Puducherry. After critically analyzing the results of the present study and comparing the results with other studies, it can be concluded that:

• Blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic gradually increases with age, the increase being more pronounced in systolic blood pressure than in diastolic blood pressure.
• The increase in the blood pressure with increase in the age is not uniform with a wide range of fluctuations, between different age groups.