Introduction:

There is a significant increase in overweight and obese children and adolescents, these conditions are risk factors for developing arterial hypertension.

Objective:

To determine the frequency and risk factors associated with systemic arterial hypertension in a population aged 10 to 18 years of an Educational Center in the Central Department in 2023.

Materials and Methods:

The study design was observational, analytical and cross-sectional. Using non-probabilistic convenience sampling, from a population N=1230 students, we enrolled subjects from the morning and afternoon shifts of the institution. 446 met the inclusion criteria.

Results:

The median age was 14 years with P25 12 and p75 15. 62% were female. Regarding the nutritional status of the study population, 46.4 were of normal weight, 37.7% were overweight and 15.9% obese. The median blood pressure of the entire population was a systolic of 116 P25-75 (67-78), and a diastolic of 73 P25-75 (67-78). It was found that 10% of the patients had hypertension. Regarding the association between nutritional status in the groups with and without hypertension, in the first group, 95.7% were obese versus 6.8% in the group without hypertension, p=0.0001.

Conclusion:

The frequency of arterial hypertension found in this study was 10%, with a predominance of the female sex and a median age of 14 years. 15.9% were obese and high blood pressure was associated with this nutritional condition.

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