Document Type : Original Article(s)
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Neonatal and Children's Health Research Center, School of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
2 Assistant professor, Pediatric Cardiologist, Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Health Management and Social Development Research Center AND Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
4 Neonatal and Children's Health Research Center, Taleghani Hospital, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity and hypertension (HTN) are among serious global health
concerns. Since risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) should be managed early in life
and there is little information about children under the age of 6 in the community, the study was
designed aiming to address these issues.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1,091, 3-6-year-old children in Gorgan
City, located in north of Iran. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure were
measured using standard techniques. All statistical tests were conducted using the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows.
RESULTS: Given the study, respectively 3.8 and 4.5% of the boys and girls were underweight, 17.4
and 16.5% of the boys and girls were overweight, and 20.8 and 19.3% of the boys and girls were
obese. In addition, 3.4, 0.7, and 0.4% of the subjects had presystolic, systolic, and prediastolic
HTN, respectively. There is a significant linear relationship between BMI and systolic and diastolic
blood pressures. It was found that the risk of obesity in mothers with college education was
estimated to be almost 5 times higher than in mothers with lower levels of education.
CONCLUSION: Compared to the values announced by Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the mean height, weight, and BMI of children in our study was higher.
Educational interventions should be considered in society, especially for mothers with a high
level of education and employed ones. It is recommended that blood pressure measurements,
especially in obese children, be carefully considered at each pediatric visit so that children with
HTN could be quickly identified and treated.
Keywords
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