Análise da verificação da pressão arterial de crianças em âmbito hospitalar

Abstract

Introduction: Studies show that adults affected by Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) had the disease onset in childhood. The prevalence of children diagnosed with SAH has increased and many have nonspecific symptoms or are even asymptomatic, often being related to overweight. The objective of this study is to identify the prevalence of high blood pressure in children who were admitted to the Hospital de Clínicas (HC) of the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), to investigate the clinical characteristics and to observe the adhesion of health professionals in relation to verification of BP in children. Methodology: This is a descriptive and retrospective study on the blood pressure of children aged three to nine years old, who were admitted to the Hospital de Clínicas of the Federal University of Uberlândia from January to June 2019. Data collection was carried out in February and March 2020. Results: Data were obtained from 304 medical records, most were admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Room, 262 admissions, and the mean length of stay was 6.73 ± 8.58 days. Most children were male (179, 58.9%) and white (169, 55.6%) and the mean age was 5.66 ± 1.95 years. Only 51 children had their height determined, two (0.7%) had waist measurements and only one hip measurement (0.3%). 90.8 to 91.1% of the records do not present information on the history of a family disease. None of the records had the BP classification according to percentiles and there was no information regarding the limb in which the BP was measured. Approximately 84% of the children could not be classified according to the BP percentiles by the authors, due to lack of data and, of those who were classified, about 7% were normotensive and from 8.3 to 11.2% showed changes in BP. Conclusion: The high prevalence of children with HBP in the hospital environment is evidenced. The failure of health professionals to perform the physical examination and anamnesis is perceived, since there are several gaps in filling out the patients' medical records. Furthermore, practical and theoretical knowledge have a great deficit when it comes to BP measurement in children. The importance of training and strategies that offer quality care is highlighted. The study allows reflection on the number of children who have BP changes and are not referred and/or treated, given that if professionals do not perform the classification, it is not possible to stratify this population.