TITLE:
Testing the value of simple arterial blood pressure measurements in a Greek children’s hospital
AUTHORS:
Konstantinos Tsoumakas, Konstantina Giamaiou, Chara Tzavara, Vasiliki Matziou, Ioannis Elefsiniotis, Evangelia Lagona
KEYWORDS:
Children; Hypertension; Blood Pressure Screening; Community Awareness
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
13,
2013
ABSTRACT: Arterial hypertension begins in childhood and may continue, without intervention, throughout adulthood with severe health sequelae.The base of timely diagnosis is the systematic blood pressure (BP) measurement. Background: The study aims at revealing the level of parental and community awareness and testing the value of a simple measurement in uncovering children who need further assessment when performing an in-hospital BP screening. Methods: BP was measured in 600 children (0 - 17 yr, mean age 5.1 ± 4.3 yr) at a Children’s hospital. Parents were asked to fill in a specially structured questionnaire. Results: In 47.2% of the subjects (40.1% of them were Greeks and 60.6% foreigners), BP had never been checked before (p arterial BP had never been checked before. Surprisingly, a health certificate was issued for school purposes for 81.2% of the schoolchildren of this study, and 75.3% of the enrolled children were allowed to participate in sports clubs without first checking BP. Moreover, parents demonstrated a low level of alertness with respect to paediatric hypertension. Conclusions: Simple arterial BP measurements can ensure early detection and thus early referral to specialists.