ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: Understanding the correlation between body height components and blood pressure in children can encourage proper investment in population-based primary prevention programs and gives benefits in terms of public health and economic well-being. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of stunting and relationship between height, sitting height, leg length, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) in Javanese children in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Methods: This study used a cross sectional method which was conducted on 492 Javanese children aged 6-12 years old (237 boys and 255 girls). All children underwent anthropometric, SBP, and DBP measurements using standard procedures. Height-for-age based on WHO chart was used to define stunting, while leg length was based on the relative subischial leg-length. Statistical analysis was conducted using independent sample t-test and Pearson’s correlation test with a significance of p<0.05. Results: It was found that around 22.3% of children were stunted with two thirds of girls. Height components were positively correlated with SBP in boys (r=0.19–0.32, p<0.05) and girls (r:0.22–0.37, p<0.05) as well as DBP in boys (r:0.18–0.24, p<0.05) and girls (r:0.22–0.33, p<0.05). The highest correlations were found between siting height and SBP in boys and girls (r:0.32 and r:0.37, respectively). Conclusion: In this study, the incidence of stunting in girls was higher than boys. A positive correlation was found between the components of height and blood pressure. The component of sitting height was better than leg length for predicting blood pressure in Javanese children aged 6-12 years.