Primary Hypertension with Target Organ Damage among Apparently Healthy Secondary School Students in Osogbo, South-Western Nigeria.

Introduction: In recent times, there has been an increase in the frequency of hypertension among young people which is contributing globally to the increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in adults.

Objective: The aim of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence of primary hypertension and its risk factors among apparently healthy secondary school students in Osogbo, southwestern Nigeria.

Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study of a total of 404 secondary school students in Osogbo city. Following informed parental consents of all the students involved in the study, blood pressure (BP) measurements were taken at 2 different visits by auscultation after a negative urine dip stick test result (thus excluding haematuria or proteinuria) in every subject before each BP was measured.

Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in this study was 3.5% (n = 14) and 6.2% (n = 25), respectively. Obesity, consumption of extra - uncooked salt, high parental education and attendance of privately-owned secondary schools were identified risk factors associated with elevated BP. Seven (29%) of 24 subjects with hypertension had features of left ventricular hypertrophy (an evidence of target organ damage) on echocardiography and electrocardiography. All subjects with elevated BP had normal renal scan.

Conclusion: Hypertension with features of target organ damage exists among adolescents. No known primary aetiologies were found among the hypertensive adolescents in the study and thus they were all deemed to have essential hypertension.