Abstract
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of micro-albuminuria in adolescent/young adult offsprings of Nigeria hypertensive adults. Background: On the premise that micro-albuminuria is a predictor of early stage hypertensive disease and the fact that heredity plays an important role in the aetiology of essential hypertension, the prevalence of micro-albuminuria in children of hypertensive adults was assessed. Setting: Medical wards of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. Subjects: Normotensive, non-diabetic, non-obese adolescents/young adult offsprings of known adult hypertensives, receiving in-patient care. Controls had similar characteristics but born to normotensive adults. Design: Prospective, cross-sectional involving 42 subjects and 50 controls. Results: Mean age of the 42 study subjects (24 males and 18 females) was 17.95+0.52years (range 13 – 24 years). Eight (19.0-%) had microalbuminuria as compared to 4(8.0%) in controls. Five (62.5%) of the micro-albuminuric subjects had fathers who were hypertensive while none had maternal history of hypertension. The incidence of microalbuminuria in subjects with positive paternal history of hypertension was 21.1% as against 0.0% in those with positive maternal history of hypertension. Parental history of diabetes mellitus did not enhance the risk of micro-albuminuria. Similarly, combined morbidities of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in either parents or both were unassociated with increased incidence of micro-albuminuria. Mean duration of paternal hypertension of 9.20± 2.09 years did not vary from 8.90±1.13years in the parents of those who were micro-albuminuria negative. Conclusion: Microalbuminuria could be a predictor of early phase adolescent hypertensive disease and such may have more relevance in offsprings of Nigerians at risk of hypertensive fathers. Recommendation: Longitudinal and more detailed work employing timed urine sample is advocated to further examine these relationships. Key Words: Micro-albuminuria, Adolescents, Parental essential hypertension, Africans. Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol. 7(2) 2004: 60-64
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