An epidemiological study of adolescents hypertension in Kolkata, India

Hypertension is an "ice berg" disease with high morbidity and mortality and is a silent threat to the health of people all over the world. The roots of hypertension grow in childhood. It is thus of importance to identify children and adolescents at risk of getting hypertension, so that interventions for primary prevention could be suggested and furthermore, prevention of emergence of risk factors, i.e., steps necessary for primordial prevention could be formulated. The detection of high blood pressure during childhood is of potential value in identifying those children who are at increased risk of primary hypertension as adults and who might benefit from earlier intervention and follow-up. An epidemiological study was conducted, among adolescent population in the urban field practice area of Chetla, Kolkata, India during June 2003 to May 2004. The objectives of the study were (i) To find out the prevalence of hypertension among adolescents (10 -19 years)age group. (ii) To find out the factors associated with hypertension among adolescent population under study and (iii) To find out the validity of the diagnostic criteria of the study compared to W.H.O criteria.