Nathan Yanwou1
1Faculty of medicine and Biomedical sciences, University of Yaoundé I,Cameroon
CaHReF 2018, Yaoundé Congres hall, 08 – 11 January 2019 , OERF009
Background: hypertension is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, responsible for about ten million deaths each year. Diagnosis of hypertension is difficult and cumbersome because of time needed for interpretation of huge tables with percentiles of age, sex, and blood pressure. A simple, and less cumbersome tool is highly needed.
Objectif: assess the diagnostic accuracy of blood pressure to height ratio in a population of Cameroonian children.
Methodology: From November 2017 to April 2018, we carried out a cross sectional study in primary and high schools located in Yaoundé. We recruited 1141 participants, and recorded their age, sex, height, and blood pressure. The level of statistical significance was set at 95%.
Results: the prevalence of elevated blood pressure was 13, 4 while that of hypertension was 9,7%. Cut-off values for diagnosis of elevated blood pressure (prehypertension) and hypertension stage 1 and 2 in children were: 0,84/0,56; 0,87/0,62; 0,96/0,64 for boys and 0,82/0,56; 0,83/0,57; 0,89/0,69 for girls respectively. And for adolescents, cut-off was: 0,74/0,46; 0,77/0,49; 0,85/0,70 for boys and 0,74/0,48; 0,78/0,48; 0,82/0,51 for girls respectively. Sensitivity ranged from 80% to 100% and specificity from 78% to 99%. Contrarily, positive predictive values vary from 12% to 69% and negative predictive value from 92% to 100%.
Conclusion/Recommandation: Blood pressure to height ratio is a simple, cost-effective, and efficient tool for screening of elevated blood pressure and hypertension in children. However, because of poor positive predictive value, this tool may be useful for screening of high blood pressure. The confirmation of diagnosis should be done with the reference tables proposed by the American academy of pediatrics.
Key Words:Blood pressure, height, children! Hypertension, ratii