Estado nutricional y presión arterial en niños de la provincia del Chaco, Argentina

Chaco Province, Argentina, has a population of 1,055,259 inhabitants, and has one of the largest pediatric and indigenous populations in the country.

The aim of this study was to determine the blood pressure (BP) and nutritional status (NS) in the pediatric population in Chaco Province and to describe the differences between the Caucasian population (CP), and a group of Toba aborigines (AT) less than 10 years old.

This study was conducted on a non-random sample of 678 children of 1-17 years who did not attend medical appointments. The tables developed by WHO 2007 were used to determine NS. BP was taken by adapting the technique described in the Fourth BP Report.

Depending on age and ethnicity, the participating children were divided into four groups. In Group I, 90 (13.3%) AT under 10 years, group II, 52 (7.7%) of CP of the same age range, group III, 190 (28%) CP 11-13 years, and in group IV, 346 (51%) CP 4-17 years. There was a risk of overweight and overweight, in between 24% and 46% of children, and underweight in 2.7% (95% CI; 1.6 to 4.2).

Blood pressure above or equal to the 95 percentile was detected in 42% of Group I, 30% of Group II, 20% of group III, and 16% of group IV (p < .05).

The prevalence of overweight is higher than that that found in other studies from Canada and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lower than in the United States. The AT had a higher frequency of normal weight and shorter stature.