Evaluation of blood pressure reactivity in rural school going children Singh Amit Kant1,*, Associate Professor, Jaiswal Kirti1, Associate Professor, Shukla KM2, Professor & Head, Sant Santosh Kumar1, Professor & Head, Kumar Sandeep3, Associate Professor, Hyder A N Gayassudin1, Lecturer 1Department of Physiololgy, UP RIMS & R, Saifai, Etawah, 206130, India 2Department of Pediatrics, UP RIMS & R, Saifai, Etawah, 206130, India 3Department of Community Medicine, UP RIMS & R, Saifai, Etawah, 206130, India *Corresponding author: E-mail: amitbhu2008@gmail.com
Online published on 16 April, 2015. Abstract Background & objectives Arterial blood pressure is an important physiological parameter in epidemiology of cardiovascular disease. Hypertension has been reported to be generally associated with sympathetic over activity. In the study of hypertension, several authors have made use of a technique, known as Cold Presser Test. It was designed to measure the reactivity of blood pressure to a standard stimulus. Thus this study was undertaken to evaluate the response to the standard stimulus in the school going children. Methods The study was conducted on healthy school children between the age group of 6.5 years to 11.5 years. The blood pressure was recorded using the standard auscultatory technique and cold pressure test was done as described by Hines & Brown (1932). Individuals were categorized into two groups, depending on their reactivity to cold pressure test as norm reactors (NR) and hyper-reactors (HR). Results The significant increase (p<0.05) in post-test SBP and DBP was observed in the subjects with the ages of 8.5 years and above. The magnitude of increase in SBP and DBP is in inverse proportion to the age of the subjects. The percentage of hyper-reactors showed an increasing trend with the age. Interpretation & conclusions As the age has inverse proportion the increase of blood pressure the younger age group children need more caring approach both in school and home and as the percentage of hyper-reactors increase with age and class level this indicates the role of academic level influencing the blood pressure reactivity. Top Keywords Blood pressure, children, cold pressure test. Top |