Prevalence of Hypertension in Nigerian Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Trend Analysis of Data from the Past Four Decades

Abstract

Despite four decades of research, there is no systematic review and trend analysis on paediatric (pre)hypertension in Nigeria. This article reviewed data from cross-sectional studies on the subject. From the initial 9334 articles identified, 30 studies that met the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed. Data from studies that defined hypertension as blood pressure (BP) greater than the 95th percentile for age, height and sex gave a prevalence of 8.2% [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.6-28.2%] for prehypertension and 5.1% (95% CI: 2.9-8.6%) for hypertension. For studies that defined hypertension as BP greater than 2 SD points from the mean of the population, the prevalence of hypertension was found to be 4.0% (95% CI: 2.8-5.7%). A significant negative trend (Z = -0.89; α < 0.01) with small magnitude (Q = -0.019; 95% CI: -0.070 to 0.028) was found for hypertension in the reviewed population. The prevalence of (pre)hypertension in Nigerian children and adolescents is moderate but has slightly declined over time.

Keywords: Nigerians; adolescents; children; hypertension; prehypertension; prevalence.