ABSTRACT
Background@#Hypertension in children is one of major concerns in public health. However, there is no evidence within the Lao population. Therefore, we aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension in children and adolescents aged 11-15 years old.@*Methodology@#A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in children and adolescents aged 11-15 years old at secondary schools of Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. Two secondary schools were purposively selected, Vientiane and Bornagnao schools. The data were collected using questionnaire form.@*Result@#A total of 365 students were included in the study of which 50.7% were male. The mean age was 13.7 years old (Min=11 and Max=15). The majority of students were of Lao Loum ethnicity (95.1%). Of 365 students, 140 (38.3%) had high blood pressure during the survey. Of these, 99 (27.1%) people were at pre-hypertension, 6.3% in stage 1 and 4.9% in stage 2. Most (74.5%) of included students had normal Body Mass Index (BMI). Students with overweight and obesity were significantly more likely to have hypertension than others (p<0.001).@*Conclusion@#We found a high prevalence of hypertension in secondary school students particularly in those overweight and obese. Therefore, it is important to provide appropriate education at school to reduce the risk factors as well as hypertensive screening.
ABSTRACT
Background@#The prevalence of Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA) globally ranges from 5-30%, but relatively high in Asia, 22%. This condition is commonly found among patients with thalassemia. However, no data are available about this disease in Lao PDR.@*Objective@#To determine the proportion of AIHA among Lao children with thalassemia.@*Methodology@#A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to September 2018 in pediatric patients with thalassemia who received blood transfusion at the Children’s Hospital, Vientiane Capital. There were 338 patients included in the study. Data analysis was done using SPSS, and Pearson chi-square was used to compare the two proportions.@*Finding@#We found that the proportion of AIHA was 3.6% (12/336) amongst those with thalassemia with more males than females (3:1). The mean (SD) age was 11.5 ± 3 years old. The older age of patients was significantly associated with AIHA, p=0.001. We also found that patients with transfusion dependent thalassemia were more likely to have AIHA than those who were not. The mean reticulocyte count (%) was significantly higher in patients with AIHA than those without AIHA (8.61±10.57 versus 1.18±1.14, p<0.001). Other variables such as sex, type of thalassemia, age at diagnosis, the frequency of blood transfusion, age at first blood transfusion, blood group and hemoglobin before blood transfusion were not significantly associated with AIHA.@*Conclusion@#The proportion of AIHA remains low in Lao children with transfusion dependent thalassemia, but requires further attention to reduce its complications. There is a need to identify factors associated with AIHA among Lao patients with Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia