Abstract
Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence of subclinical target organ damage (TOD) in Chinese hypertensive children and adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in children and adolescents from four schools in Jinan of China between September 2012 and September 2014. The hypertensive status was confirmed based on blood pressure measured on three different occasions. Those with hypertension were invited to participate in the evaluation of TOD (including heart, arteries, and kidney) and metabolic disorders. A total of 7840 children aged 6–17 years were recruited at baseline, of whom 373 were diagnosed as hypertension after three separate visits, and 333 (89%) participated in evaluation of TOD. Results: Among 333 hypertensive children, 32.4% had left ventricular hypertrophy, 47.4% had elevated carotid intima-media thickness, 7.6% had liver dysfunction, 4.1% had microalbuminuria, and 29.2% had dyslipidemia. Cardiovascular damages were more prevalent in children aged 9–14 years than the other age groups (i.e., 6–8 and 15–17 years). Girls had higher proportion of renal damages than boys (8.2% vs. 2.6%). No significant gender and age differences were observed for other indicators. Conclusion: The subclinical TOD is prevalent in Chinese hypertensive children and adolescents. Effective measures should be taken to fight against the subclinical TOD.
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