GENDER VARIATION IN THE PREVALENCE OF CHILDHOOD HYPERTENSION

Hypertension is an important health problem all over the world. It is usually silent and the presence of symptoms may indicate end-organ damage. Whereas some studies reported a higher blood pressure (BP) in girls than boys at all ages other studies reported no sex differences while others demonstrated an initial higher BP in boys before puberty with reversal at puberty.

Variation in prevalence of hypertension according to gender.

A cross-sectional study of BP that recruited 1350 apparently healthy secondary school adolescents aged 10-19 years over 6 months.

The overall point prevalence of hypertension was 4.4% (59 of 1350) with gender-specific prevalence for males being 4.1% (26 of 628 boys) and 4.6% (33 of 722 girls) for females, (χ 2=0.831, p=0.362). According to stages of hypertension, 1.5% (10 of 628) and 1.1% (7 of 628) males had stages 1 and 2 systolic hypertension respectively while 2.4% (15 of 628) had stage 1 diastolic hypertension and none had stage 2. Similarly, 2.4% (17 of 722) and 1.2% (9 of 722) females had stages 1 and 2 systolic hypertension respectively while 1.2% (9 of 722) and only 0.1% (1 of 722) girls had stages 1 and 2 diastolic hypertension respectively. The overall prevalence of pre-hypertension was 22.1% (298 of 1350) with gender-specific prevalence of 21% (131 of 628) for males and 23.1% (167 of 722) for females, (χ 2=4.349, p=0.037).

Female adolescents have a higher prevalence of hypertension, especially pre-hypertension, compared with males. The BP screening is recommended at secondary school entry and at regular intervals.