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Nutritional status of school-aged children and its relation to blood pressure
Nora Zeberio1, Agustina Malpeli, María Apezteguía
1Division of Cardiology, Hospital Municipal Héctor Cura, Olavarría, Clínica CEMEDA S.A. Olavarría, Province of Buenos Aires.
Introduction:
Obesity is associated with a wide range of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Objective:
To establish an association between the nutritional status of 6-10 year old boys and girls and blood pressure.
Population And Methods:
A cross-sectional, analytical study was conducted in 6-10 year old schoolboys and schoolgirls. Outcome measures and indicators studied included nutritional status as per body mass index; presence of central fat mass distribution estimated by waist circumference; and blood pressure (height, age and gender tables). Differences in mean values were analyzed using a Student's t test. The relationship between outcome measures was estimated using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Linear regression models were adjusted for systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure using the following explanatory outcome measures: z scores for body mass index, age, gender and waist circumference.
Results:
Five hundred and fifty five male and female children were evaluated; they were all younger than 11 years old. A total of 26.3% was overweight and 15.1% was obese. The prevalence of hypertension was 1.08%. Results show a positive linear relationship between systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and age and waist circumference, and a trend is observed between systolic blood pressure and the body mass index z score (p = 0.068).
Conclusion:
Overweight and obesity were the most common nutritional disorders in schoolaged children in the studied district; there is an association between age, waist circumference, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and between systolic blood pressure and the body mass index z score.
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