Epidemiology of arterial hypertension (essential hypertension)

Arterial pressure, like other indicators, increases with the age of the child. Most rapidly it increases in infancy (by 1 mm Hg per month). In children from 1 year to 5 years of age, blood pressure remains virtually unchanged, and from 6 years of age to puberty again increases. The values of SBP grow more rapidly. This index increases from birth to 20 years on average by 2 mm Hg. Per year in boys, and in girls - by 1 mm Hg. In year. DBP increases to a lesser extent - an average of 0.5 mm Hg. In year. In adolescence (13-17 years), DBP does not change much.

At the age of 10-13 years, SBP is higher in girls, after 13 years - in boys. In one age group the highest level of arterial pressure is noted in menstruating girls. The norms of arterial pressure depend on national characteristics and climatic zones. The blood pressure values are slightly higher in children living in the southern regions, compared with children in the northern regions. However, taking into account the terms of puberty in different climatogeographic zones, the blood pressure levels are close.

The results of population-based studies of the population over the age of 15 showed that 42 million people suffer from hypertension, with an additional 5 million patients every year, of which only half of the patients receive any treatment. And adequate treatment of only 20% of patients. It is extremely disturbing that in Ukraine the death rate from diseases of the circulatory system at working age is 3-5 times higher than in other economically developed countries, while the mortality rate is growing.

It should be emphasized that the most significant increase in mortality is observed in the age group from 20 to 29 years.

According to the research, the number of children with high blood pressure increased by 6.8% by 2001, reaching 335.6 thousand people, currently this growth continues. Recently, a number of epidemiological studies have been performed on the determination of the level of arterial pressure. The results of these studies have revealed a high prevalence of hypertension among children and adolescents, whose frequency varies in wide ranges - from 2.4 to 18% of those surveyed.

In children of the first year of life, hypertension is virtually non-existent, with the exception of symptomatic hypertension associated with renal vein thrombosis, aortic coarctation, or adrenal disease. Arterial hypertension in children aged 1 year is identified only by the level of systolic blood pressure, using criteria for hypertension in infants recommended by experts of the working group of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, USA.

Criteria of arterial hypertension in infants

Age	95th percentile	The 99th percentile
From birth to 7 days	96 mm Hg.	106 mm Hg.
8-30 days	104 mm Hg.	110 mm Hg.
1 month-1 year	112 mm Hg.	118 mm Hg.

At the preschool age, primary arterial hypertension is practically not found, and the increase in arterial pressure has a secondary, symptomatic character, and therefore a timely diagnosis of the disease that causes an increase in blood pressure is necessary. There are no epidemiological data on the prevalence of arterial hypertension in early and preschool years. Nevertheless, a number of Western researchers proposed cut-off points of arterial pressure, corresponding to the 95th and 99th percentiles in children of early and preschool age. The level of blood pressure exceeding these values should be regarded as an arterial hypertension.

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