EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF OVERWEIGHT AND HYPERTENSIVE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.1593732313096

• Palavras-chave: hypertension; obesity; teenagers

• Keywords: hypertension; obesity; teenagers

• Abstract:

  SUMMARY: Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) in children and adolescents has increased over the years. This scenario portrays a global epidemic that emphasizes the need to be aware of the problem. Materials and Methods: Descriptive epidemiological study with a quantitative, exploratory and retrospective approach with data collected from the Registration and Monitoring System - HIPERDIA (DATASUS), referring to adolescents with SAH in São Paulo from January 2002 to April 2013. Analysis and Data processing was carried out using Microsoft Office Excel 2010 Software, where the relative and absolute frequencies of the selected variables were calculated. Results: In this period, data from 5,947 participants showed greater female involvement, representing 3,612 cases (60.73%), compared to 2,335 male cases (39.27%). The highest number of cases were recorded in 2002 and 2003, with 1,178 (19.80%) and 1,262 (21.22%), respectively. It is worth noting that only the months of January to April 2013 were analyzed, due to availability in the system. Discussion: Studies indicate a close relationship between hypertension and obesity, such that eliminating obesity significantly reduces the number of hypertensive adolescents. Furthermore, it was observed that the prevalence of hypertension in adolescents increases with age. Conclusion: The study showed that the majority of adolescents with hypertension are female and are related to being overweight, represented by approximately 43% of overweight hypertensive adolescents. There was a concomitant increase in prevalence according to age. The temporal analysis showed that the number of diagnosed cases decreased between 2002 and 2013, diverging from the literature. This fact can be explained by underreporting or underdiagnosis. In view of the above, it is essential that updated data be collected so that health agencies can formulate public health policies aimed at the studied population.