Prevalence and predictors of pediatric high blood pressure: An Egyptian school-based survey

Background Childhood hypertension (HTN) is a substantial public health problem due to its rising trend and strong correlation with adulthood HTN with its long-term sequelae. It has notable unmodifiable and modifiable risk factors. The current study aimed to portray blood pressure (BP) profile and identify the correlates associated with abnormal BP readings among preparatory schoolchildren in El-Beheira Governorate, Egypt. Methods using a multistage random sampling, from El Beheira governorate 15 districts, Damanhur was chosen where 4 preparatory schools (two for boys + two for girls) and 856 students aged 11–14 years were recruited for a cross-sectional study. A pre-designed structured interview questionnaire having socio-demographic information; habitual and family history data; besides anthropometric and three BP measurements were obtained for each student. BP was classified according to the new American normative BP in healthy children and adolescents. Results Students boys and girls were equally distributed (50%), with an average age of 13.3 ± 0.66 years. Among the students, 27% were obese/overweight and 40% didn’t exercise regularly. The frequency of elevated BP and HTN was 9.1% and 6.9%, respectively. High BP predominated with girls (odds ratio (OR) = 2.811), physical inactivity (≤ once weekly: OR = 30.366, & 2–3 times weekly: OR = 19.364), high risk diet (OR = 4.302), added table salt (OR = 13.374), family history of HTN (OR = 2.003), overweight (OR = 3.718), obesity (OR = 8.444), and abdominal obesity (OR = 4.016), ( p  < 0.05). Conclusions The bottom line is that childhood high BP represents an alarming public health problem that should be seriously considered. Screening of schoolchildren has explicitly unveiled the high frequency of high BP (elevated BP and HTN) among preparatory schoolchildren tipped the scales in favor of the importance of lifestyle modification in rectifying childhood high BP levels.