Children falling prey to hypertension
PTI Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Indraprasth - At 16, the rush of blood in Deepak's vein should have been due to falling in love. But
it had something to do with his health. By the time his blood pressure was checked, headaches he use
to have, already resulted in poor performance in his board exams.
This is not an isolated case. Many adolescents in the country around Deepak's age are falling to
high blood pressure or hypertension, a condition uncommon for such a young age.
Hypertension in children is fast becoming a matter of growing concern. According to a study by the
Indian Council of Medical Research, Institute of Home Economics and All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS), one in every three teenagers in the capital, is likely to have hypertension.
The three-year study, "Lipid profile and blood glucose levels of children from affluent families",
surveyed children, between 13 and 18 years of age, in five public schools of Delhi catering to the
affluent segments.
Out of about 800 children surveyed, 25 per cent of the children had high cholesterol levels and
nearly 30 per cent teenagers had systolic blood pressure more than 120 mm Hg.
"Sedentary lifestyle, faulty dietary patterns, excessive academic pressure and high parental
expectations are leading adolescents towards various health problems", says principal investigator
Dr Santosh Jain Passi, Reader, Institute of Home Economics, Delhi University.
"This trend is seen more amongst children from affluent segments of the society because they are
more likely to have unhealthy lifestyle due to easier access to junk food and general inactivity.
But we cannot say that the other group of children have got immunity to this disease", Passi says.
Elaborating about this trend, Dr S C Manchanda, former head of department of cardiology at AIIMS
says, "In today's fast moving world, while west is adopting our culture and dietary habits, we are
copying the trends, which they are discarding now".
"In US, smoking has come down and about two crore people are practicing yoga. They are learning from
our culture and we are following their life pattern, without adjusting it to our culture and
environment", Manchanda adds.
The researchers say that if the children do not become more active and make dietary changes, there
will be an outbreak of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in the coming time.
While mild to moderately high blood pressure usually has no symptoms, and is thus called 'The Silent
Killer'. Recurrent headaches, blurred vision, lack of sleep, dizzy spells could be indicators, but
not always. The only way to find out whether blood pressure is higher than normal is periodic
monitoring.
About the efforts that are required to curtail this trend, Manchanda says, "Multi-pronged strategy
is needed to combat this trend. First of all there is need to sensitise children, parents and even
teachers about the long term complications of this kind of lifestyle".
"Under the study we have also issued health certificates to the children indicating their blood
pressure and Body Mass Index (BMI), which was a part of our effort to create sensitisation about the
growing trend", Passi adds.
But to create awareness at mass scale, Manchanda says, "Children should be made aware about the
positive effects of vegetarian diet and physical exercise in the form of sports should be increased.
We also need to get the blood pressure of even children periodically checked."
While there is need to curb the number of children falling prey to the silent killer, researchers
say it may not be a bad idea to ensure that children play a little more, study regularly, without
last minute pressure and eat a little judiciously with greater emphasis on inclusion of fresh
vegetable and fruits in their diets. It would provide ample amount of dietary fibers and
antioxidants.
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