Cardiovascular risk factors among primary school children aged 6 - 15 years in urban Dar es Salaam and rural Morogoro.Prevalence, Awareness and Knowledge.

Abstract

Background: , once known as diseases of the Western world have recently been emerged as diseases of public health importance in many developing countries. Change in life style and socio- economic status associated with urbanization is thought to be the major contributing factor for this trend. In its message to the developing countries, the World Health Organization has urged for a prompt control of cardiovascular diseases at an early stage before the burden becomes more severe. The need for Primordial Prevention has highly been recommended. Objective: To determine the prevalence, awareness and knowledge of the conventional cardiovascular risk factors among primary school children aged 6 - 15 years in Urban Dar es Salaam and Rural Morogoro. Methods: Cross sectional survey of children aged 6 - 15 years from four primary schools in Urban Dar es Salaam and two primary schools in Rural Morogoro. Anthropometric and Blood Pressure measurements were done using the standard techniques, blood samples taken and analysed for sugar, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides levels. A standard questionnaire was used to obtain socio-

IX demographic characteristics and to assess the level of awareness and knowledge of the main cardiovascular diseases among the children. Results: The prevalence of systolic, diastolic and both (systolic and diastolic) hypertension was found to be 11.4%, 8.1% and 3.9% respectively among the 508 children studied. Twenty one (4.1%) subjects had high total cholesterol levels, while high LDL-C levels were found in 10 subjects (2%). The prevalence of obesity was found to be 5.3%. Only six (1.2%) subjects were having active cigarette smoking. Passive smoking was found in 35% of the total study population. Majority of the study population were generally active. None of the subjects had blood ., sugar levels that were equivalent to diabetic levels. Subjects from the Urban Low Density schools were more likely to be hypertensive, obese and with high levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C, furthermore they were more likely to have less physical activities as compared to those from the Urban High Density and Rural schools. In addition, subjects from ULD schools were more likely to be aware and to have more knowledge of cardiovascular diseases as compared to those from the UHD and Rural schools. Conclusion: Cardiovascular risk factors are generally low among children in this society although certain groups of children have

x increased risk. There is low level of awareness and knowledge of cardiovascular diseases and their precursors among children.