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January 1, 1992International Journal of Epidemiology

Blood Pressure Levels of Zambian Rural Adolescents and their Relationship to Age, Sex, Weight, Height and Three Weight-For-Height Indices

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Why the study?

What are the determinants of blood pressure levels in rural Zambian adolescents?

Population

372 rural Zambian schoolchildren age 7-16 years

Design

Cross-sectional

Authors

NNNicholas NgʼanduUniversity Teaching Hospital

Discussion

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Implication

Supports age, height, and weight for BP interpretation in rural Zambian adolescents; leaves open optimal obesity indices pending longitudinal data.

Key Points

  • To evaluate blood pressure levels in rural schoolchildren and examine their relationships with age, sex, height, weight, and multiple weight-for-height indices.
  • Assessed blood pressure, age, sex, height, and weight in N=372 rural Zambian schoolchildren aged 7–16 years.
  • Evaluated associations between blood pressure and three relative obesity indices (weight-for-length, weight/height², and weight/height³) before and after controlling for height and physical growth.
  • Blood pressure increased with age, with age associations diminishing when controlling for physical growth; girls demonstrated equal or slightly higher mean blood pressure than boys across all ages.
  • Mean systolic blood pressure was lower than values reported for Nigerian, American, and global adolescent cohorts, whereas mean diastolic blood pressure was comparable to global peers.
  • Associations between blood pressure and relative obesity indices were statistically significant only for weight-for-length after adjusting for height, while weight/height² and weight/height³ showed nonsignificant associations in this non-obese cohort.

Structured PICO

What are the determinants of blood pressure levels in rural Zambian adolescents?

P
Population
372 rural Zambian schoolchildren age 7-16 years
O
Outcome
Blood pressure levels and their relationship to age, sex, weight, height, and weight-for-height indicessurrogate

In rural Zambian adolescents, blood pressure is primarily determined by age, height, and weight, while standard weight-for-height indices may not be appropriate measures of relative obesity in this population.

Cite This Study

Nicholas Ngʼandu (1992) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1e100d331f16ef469fcd60https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/21.2.246

Topics

Hypertension management
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Elevated Blood Pressure Among Zimbabwean Urban Primary School Children Aged 5–11 Years2017
  2. 2Blood pressure patterns in relation to geographic area of residence: a cross-sectional study of adolescents in Kogi state, Nigeria2008 · 62 citations
  3. 3Correlation of Nutritional Status and Blood Pressure of Apparently Healthy Primary School Pupils Aged 6–12 years in Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State2026
  4. 4Anthropometric determinants of resting blood pressure and heart rate of Nigerian school children1990 · 14 citations
  5. 5Blood Pressure Differences among Obese, Overweight, and Normal-Weight Adolescents in Enugu Metropolis: A Comparative Study2026