Early atherogenic signs in a health area of Consolacion del Sur municipality

Abstract

Introduction: The World Health Organization has acknowledged that atherosclerosis is the most worrisome epidemic in the world due to its functional consequences.
Objective: To identify early atherogenic signs in children between 5 and 11 years of age who belong to an urban health area.
Method: An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The universe consisted of 470 children, between 5 and 11 years of age, who receive primary health care in the Villa 1 People's Council of the 27 de Noviembre Polyclinic in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Rio, Cuba. The sample was selected using the simple random method, and consisted of 148 children whose parents gave informed consent for their participation in the study. Sociodemographic, anthropometric and other variables of
interest were studied, including blood pressure, birth weight, and a family history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
Results: 58.1% of the schoolchildren in the study were male; 15 subjects (10.1%) had low birth weight and 22 (14.9%) were obese. A total of 15 schoolchildren (10.1%) were identified as hypertensives.
Conclusions: There was a predominance of males, where anthropometric values were slightly elevated compared to females. Overweight, obesity, a family history of disease and hypertension were identified as the most common atherosclerotic signs.