Prevalence of childhood hypertension in South Asia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Hypertension is an emerging problem among children and adolescents in both developing and developed countries. Early diagnosis of hypertension is important to reduce the morbidity associated with it. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of childhood hypertension in South Asian Region. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted. PubMed-Medline, CINAHL, IndMED, and J-Gate databases were searched for original research articles published between 1980 and 2015. Study samples included children less than 18 years of age. Prevalence rate as set by each study was considered as outcome measure. We considered the articles published only in English language. For each electronic data base, search strategy specific to that database was developed. Two reviewers independently scrutinised the studies and reviewed data in a pre-tested proforma. Random effect model was used for meta-analysis. Results: A total of 1322 titles were screened for eligibility of which 1234 titles were excluded as they were not relevant. Full text articles were obtained for 88 studies, of which 52 studies were found to have eligible data for the review and were included in the final synthesis. Analysis of the data from 1,65,791 samples showed the overall prevalence of childhood pre-hypertension as 14.62% with 95% Confident Interval (95%CI), 10.63-18.6% and childhood hypertension as 5.54% with 95% CI (4.62-6.46%) Conclusion: There is significant high prevalence of childhood hypertension, highlighting the need for public awareness interventions such as school health program, parents’ education, screening of school children and adolescents for hypertension.