Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Risks of Progression

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an increase in blood pressure above 140 and/or 90 mmHg, caused by irreversible changes in arterioles, either by an unknown reason (essential), or as a secondary condition.  691 people under the age of 7 to 14 years (343 males and 348 females) were examined. They divided into two groups: 1^st-with high blood pressure; 2^nd-control group with normal blood pressure. The study results show that 19.5% of the total number of patients had high blood pressure, where 46.7%-7-10 years old children and 53.3%-11-14 years old. Almost equal ratio of boys and girls was noted in both age subgroups. Thus, there were 24.4% of boys and 22.2% of girls among children with high blood pressure aged 7-10 years and 24.4% of boys 28.9% of girls aged 11-14 years. The gender differences were found in blood pressure, heart rate and pulmonary arterial hypertension, accordingly. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) of 7–10 years girls were significantly lower than that of male peers (96.8 and 93.2%, respectively). The most of physical development indicators of males with hypertension significantly exceeded peers with normal blood pressure. The average body weight of males with PAR significantly exceeded the control groups of the corresponding age by 16 and 25.2%, respectively, in the studied age periods. The thoracic region of the younger subgroup boys with PAH was significantly greater than that of boys with normal blood pressure by 6.5%; in the middle age subgroup - by 11.3%. The hypertension in childhood and adolescence is associated with an increase in height, weight, BMI, BFM, MM, and LBM. Hypertension occurred much more often because of overweight and obesity than with normal body weight and protein-energy malnutrition.

Keywords: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), Absolute muscle mass (MM), Body mass index (BMI), lean body mass (LBM), Body fat mass (BFM).