title: Screening for hypertension in high school.
abstract: Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for atherosclerotic ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular stroke. Blood pressure measurements were taken in the supine position in 6,282 healthy adolescents (3073 boys, 3209 girls) aged 13-17 years of both sexes. Forty-eight subjects were found to have hypertension: 35 idopathic and 13 secondary to reflux nephropathy, chronic glomerulonephritis, coarctation of the aorta, and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Systolic blood pressure was significantly higher among males than females at ages 15-17 years (p<0.001); diastolic blood pressure was higher among males at age 17 years only (p<0.05). Males with BMI>17 exhibited higher systolic blood pressure than females. Prevalence of hypertension, mostly primary, in a large cohort of students was 0.76%. Early screening is important for early interventions and reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Hypertension Unit, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nussinovitch
authors.forename: Keren
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Elishkevitz
authors.forename: Talma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nussinovitch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D017678:Sex Distribution