Analysis of the prevalence of arterial hypertension in the child population of the city of Grodno in the pre-covid and during the SARS-CоV-2 pandemic period

BACKGROUND: One of the leading problems in pediatric cardiology in recent years has become arterial hypertension, which worldwide tends to increase the share of this pathology in the structure of cardiovascular diseases. AIM: The aim of the study is to analyze the prevalence of arterial hypertension in the childrens population of Grodno in the pre-COVID period and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The level of the incidence of arterial hypertension, gender and age characteristics of the pathology were studied using reports on medical care for children (Form 1 children of the Ministry of Health) for 20102019, analytical and market reports, reviews and certificates of the chief freelance pediatric cardiologist of the Health Department of the Grodno Region, chief physicians and city pediatricians. During the period of work in the time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from January 2021 to September 2021, the course of 99 cases of arterial hypertension in children was analyzed. RESULTS: An increase in the overall incidence of arterial hypertension in children from 55.67 to 99.92 was established in Grodno, and a relative pattern of reliability of incidence occurred, the incidence was 27.33 (2010) and 28.11 (2019) cases per 100,000 children early age, and a 1.5-fold increase in the share of this pathology in the structure of cardiovascular diseases over the analyzed period. Almost the same proportion of cases of arterial hypertension was revealed in the entire childrens population of Grodno both before the pandemic and during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: For the period 20102019, an increase in the overall incidence of arterial hypertension in the childrens population of Grodno was revealed. Compared with the pre-COVID period during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the prevalence of newly diagnosed hypertension in the same population has not changed.