Abstract

ALVAREZ-OCHOA, Robert; PINGUIL-YUGSI, Mercy  and  CORDERO-CORDERO, Gabriela. Risk factors for arterial hypertension in adolescents. RCTU [online]. 2018, vol.5, n.2, pp.44-51. ISSN 1390-7697.  https://doi.org/10.26423/rctu.v5i2.347.

Hypertension is a complex and multifaceted disease, with many contributing factors. The main objective of this research was to determine risk factors for arterial hypertension in adolescents. A descriptive and cross-sectional investigation was carried out in the educational institution San Rafael de Honorato Vásquez with 92 individuals aged between 12 and 18 years old who accepted to take part in the investigation. The variables were age, sex, weight, height, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, saturated fat intake, physical activity and background of high blood pressure and prevalent illness. AUDIT test was used to evaluate alcohol consumption. Also, blood pressure was measured and a blood sample was taken for analysis. The prevalence of hypertension was 10.9% (women: 2,2%; men 8,7%), from which 2,2% presented overweight, 4,3% had a family member with high blood pressure, 9,8% is used to ingest saturated fat once a day, 7,6% is used to do light exercise and 10,9% were not smokers but had low risk alcohol consumption. Furthermore, 10.9% had normal values of glucose, cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in the limit 1.1% respectively, HDL-cholesterol is low in 10.9% and 6.5% high triglycerides. No significant association was observed between these variables and the presence of HBP (p> 0.05). The determination of blood pressure must be intentionally investigated in adolescents who are at risk of suffering it because their early, and timely detection can change the course of the disease and prevent future complications.

Keywords : adolescents; cardiovascular diseases; predisposing factors; hypertension.

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