HYDERABAD: Hypertension, known in common parlance as ‘High Blood Pressure (BP)’, which is a precedent to cardiovascular diseases is becoming prevalent among adolescents in Hyderabad due to sedentary lifestyle coupled with high intake of junk food and salt, finds a study conducted in the city.
Among the 424 students aged 12-17 years from different private schools in the city who participated in the study, the prevalence of hypertension was found to be 12 per cent, whereas the prevalence of pre-hypertension, the initial stage of hypertension, was found to be 13 per cent.
The study titled ‘Prevalence and determinants of pre-hypertension and hypertension among urban high school adolescents of Hyderabad’ was published last month in National Journal of Research in Community Medicine.
The study also reported a stark difference between the prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension among girls and boys, of the 12-17 age group.
While prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension among girls was 14.2 per cent and 15.2 per cent respectively, among boys it was 11.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.
For the study, the researchers studied five determinants, extra salt intake, junk food intake, soft drink intake, watching TV and physical activity among the adolescents.
A direct correlation was found between high prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension among adolescents and high prevalence of the determinants.
For instance it was observed that of the 52 adolescents who were found to be suffering from hypertension, 26 consumed junk food for more than four days a week whereas 19 consumed junk food for less than four days a week and seven were those who never consumed junk food.
Another example is that among the 49 pre-hypertension adolescents, 25 were those who do not partake in any physical activity at all whereas 15 were those who occasionally undertake physical activity and 9 were those who regularly undertake physical activity.
Dr Sudha Bala, assistant professor and one of the researchers, said, “Girls of adolescent age are prone to hypertension and pre-hypertension than boys because they hit puberty earlier.
The stress levels also increase during menarche, which can be considered as a factor for high prevalence hypertension more among girls.”