Prevalence of Hypertension and Its Associated Factors among Primary School Children in Kuching, Sarawak

• Main Author: Roslinda, Kangan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 2023
• Subjects: RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/41825/1/Roslinda%20Zakiah%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/41825/; https://doi.org/10.51866/oa.211; https://doi.org/10.51866/oa.211

Hypertension is an emerging public health concern among children due to its rise in prevalence and association obesity epidemic. Blood pressure is determined in childhood and associated with cardiovascular disease in later life. Nevertheless, screening for hypertension is uncommon and data related to childhood hypertension is limited. This cross sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension (defined as systolic or/and diastolic blood pressure of > 95th percentile for age, gender and height) and its associated factors among primary school children in Kuching, Sarawak. Standard procedures and validated equipment used to measure the respondents’ anthropometric indicators, percentage of body fat and blood pressure. Body mass index and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were calculated accordingly. Questionnaires was used to obtained data on family social demography and health history. A total of 1,314 children aged 6 - 12 years old (girls 51.5 percent) enrolled in this study. 107 hypertensive (8.1 percent) and 178 (13.5 percent) pre-hypertension children were identified. Chi square test indicate that hypertension is significantly associated with being male (p<0.05), parent work in clerical, service, sales & skilled group (p<0.05), overweight or obese parent (p<0.05), parent with cardiovascular disease (p<0.01), BMI-for-age >+1SD (p<0.001), overfat and obese (p<0.001), height percentile > 5th to < 95th (p<0.001), waist circumference > 90th percentile (p<0.001) and waist to height ratio > 90th percentile (p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that percentage of body fat and waist circumference were significantly related to the risk of hypertension with odds ratios of 4.84 (95% CI:2.01, 11.66) and 2.33 (95% CI:1.15, 4.72), respectively, after adjusted for sex and age. The prevalence of hypertension in this study was high compared to global hypertensive children. Routine screening of blood pressure is crucial for early detection and enable early intervention to reduce future morbidity burden.