Blood pressure and body composition among Egyptian primary school children [6-11 years]

ABSTRACT

Many research spot on blood pressure levels during childhood to identify whom truly have high blood pressure reading or at high risk for the development of essential hypertension later in life. It is well known that body size and body composition are the most important risk factors and play a major role in blood pressure level determination. The aim of the present paper was to study the relationship between blood pressure with some anthropometric measurements and body composition [body fat percentage, fat free mass percentage, water percentage] among a sample of Egyptian primary school children of both sexes in Giza Governorate. This is a cross sectional study of 770 Egyptian children 524 boys and 225 girls, aged 6-11 years. Blood pressure [systolic and diastolic], weight, height, skin fold thickness [Triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac] beside waist and hip circumference were measured. Body Mass Index [BMI], waist/hip ratio and sum of skin-fold thickness were calculated. Body composition was determined using bioelectrical impedance. The Egyptian systolic blood pressure were [90.61 - 115.91 mmHg] and the Diastolic Blood pressure [60.2 - 73.51 mmHg]. Blood pressure was age dependant and significantly correlated with weight, height, BMI and sum of skin fold thickness for both sexes. Moreover blood pressure showed highly positive significant correlation with body fat percentage while it was negatively and significantly correlated with fat free mass and Total body water/weight [TB W/Wt] for both sexes. Egyptian children have higher blood pressure levels than other populations. BMI, as well as body fat% were positively correlated with blood pressure. However, Fat Free mass and total body water/weight were negatively correlated with blood pressure. Recommendation Blood pressure should be measured during childhood period for early exploration of diseased children. Assessment of body composition can be a useful tool for understanding the situation of children at risk of developing hypertension