The prevalence of adolescent hypertension in Hungary - the Debrecen hypertension study.

Background: The aim of this study was to obtain epidemiological data and to determine the prevalence of adolescent hypertension implementing a blood pressure (BP) screening.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional, population-based survey in a major Hungarian city (Debrecen, population 230,000). After a 10-min resting period, three consecutive BP measurements were taken.

Results: Complete records were obtained for 10,194 subjects (5163 boys and 5031 girls). The mean age was 16.6±1.0 years. BP for boys was higher than for girls (ΔBP(syst)=11 mmHg; ΔBP(diast)=2 mmHg, p<0.001). A significant decrease was observed in BP during the three consecutive measurements (time 1-3: ΔBP(syst)=4 mmHg; ΔBP(diast)=2.5 mmHg; p<0.001). Systolic and/or diastolic BP exceeded the age-, gender- and height-adjusted 90th percentile in 1614 (15.84%) adolescents. Following two lots of three extra measurements on 1461 subjects of this sub-sample, hypertension (systolic and/or diastolic BP exceeded the 95th percentile) was confirmed in 2.12% of the subjects (male: 2.27%, female: 1.97%). Considering there were individuals either already diagnosed with hypertension (n=19) or refusing further participation, the prevalence of hypertension was 2.53% in adolescents in the age range 15-18 years.

Conclusions: Our population-based study was the first to determine the point-prevalence of adolescent hypertension in Central-Eastern Europe. Identifying and following-up cases of confirmed hypertension is inevitable to prevent or delay the manifestations of target organ damage and reduce hypertension-related mortality.