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Prevalence and risk factors of childhood hypertension from birth through childhood: a retrospective cohort study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 34, pages 151–164 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The prevalence of childhood hypertension is recognized as an important parameter of cardiovascular risk in adults. This retrospective study aimed to ascertain the prevalence and risk factors for hypertension from birth through childhood as of 2014. Stratified cluster sampling was used to select 17,007 participants (5971 with biochemical indexes available) aged 6–12 years on two avenues per region in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The prevalence of hypertension was 12.55%; children with obesity combined with rural residence, low family income, birth weight (<3000 g) (BWP25) or >10 months of breastfeeding had a significantly elevated prevalence of hypertension (37.06%, 30.41%, 30.04%, and 30.84%, respectively). Obesity and heart rate were the significant anthropometric determinants; gestational hypertension, BWP25 and >10 months of breastfeeding were the significant perinatal determinants; rural residence was the significant socioeconomic determinant; fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were the significant serum biochemical determinants; and red blood cell counts and platelet counts were the significant haematological determinants of childhood hypertension. The adjusted R2 values were 14.45% and 24.88% in the full models excluding and including serum indexes, respectively. We observed a notable prevalence of hypertension in a large paediatric sample. Obesity, high heart rate, BWP25, >10 months of breastfeeding, low family income, rural residence, abnormal lipid metabolism, and abnormal blood counts were associated with an increased risk of hypertension.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the laboratory support of the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders and all the staff members of the ten elementary schools in the three regions.

Funding

This study was supported by the Education Commission of Chongqing Municipality (KJQN201900443), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81502826), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2014M562289) and the Chongqing PostDoctoral Research Funded Projects (Xm2014129).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Key Laboratory of Pediatrics in Chongqing, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Center of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Chongqing, China

    Xiaohua Liang & Yetao Luo

  2. Disease Control and Prevention Center of Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, China

    Lun Xiao

  3. Henan Provincial Hospital, Henan Province, China

    Jiapei Xu

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  1. Xiaohua Liang
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Contributions

XHL and XL conceived and designed the experiments; JPX and YTL performed the experiments; YTL analysed the data; XHL wrote the paper; and all authors critically reviewed and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Xiaohua Liang.

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Liang, X., Xiao, L., Luo, Y. et al. Prevalence and risk factors of childhood hypertension from birth through childhood: a retrospective cohort study. J Hum Hypertens 34, 151–164 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-019-0282-z

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