Assessing blood pressure in Egyptian primary school population

ABSTRACT

A blood pressure study of 349 students 7 to 12 years old, in public primary school at Giza, revealed that the mean of both systolic and diastolic pressure was slightly higher than that recorded in other places in the world. The prevalence of high blood pressure was 15.7% in the initial screening. The overall prevalence on the third examination was 5.4%. Only 0.85% of the students with high blood pressure need medication with drugs. Because the yield from mass screening of children is low and its potential for creating anxiety among families with children having only transiently elevated blood pressure, case findings of childhood hypertension should remain the responsibility of the physician in the clinical setting: