Thesis (M.Sc. (Physiology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are major public health problems nowadays in Africa.
From prospective studies, it is also known that risk factors for CVDs start early in life
and increase morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan African adults. Mostly the risk
factors of CVDs are malnutrition and hypertension. Economic development in South
Africa leads to lifestyle changes that contribute to a high prevalence of high blood
pressure (BP) and malnutrition. However, little is known about the relationship of
anthropometric indicators and BP in children from the developing countries. Therefore
the aim of this study was to determine the association between anthropometrics
indicators and BP among rural children in Ellisras area of Limpopo province, South
Africa. All 1961 children (n=1029 boys, n=932 girls) aged 5-12 years underwent
anthropometric and BP measurements using standard procedure. Receiver operating
characteristics (ROC) curve was used to assess the ability of anthropometric
indicators to discriminate children with high BP. ROC was used to determine the area
under curve (AUC), cut-off value, sensitivity and specificity for underweight in children
for each age and gender. Linear regression was used to assess the relationship
between anthropometric indicators and BP. ROC curve showed that height (AUC =
0.700, 95%Cl 0.581 to 0.818), SH (AUC= 0.690, 95%Cl 0.573 to 0.786) and SH/H
(AUC=0.670, 95% 0.533 to 0.807) can significantly (P<0.05) identify Ellisras children
with hypertension. AUC for neck circumference (NC) (0.698), mid upper arm
circumference (MUAC) (0.677) and body mass index (BMI) (0.636) for boys were
statistically significant (P<0.05) for high systolic blood pressure (SBP), while in girls
AUC of BMI was not significant (P>0.05) for high diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The
regression analysis showed a positive significant (P<0.05) association of SBP with NC
(β=0.764, 95%CI 0.475 to 1.052) and MUAC (β=1.286, 95% Cl 0.990 to 1.581) for
unadjusted and adjusted age and gender. NC (β=0.628 95% Cl 0.303 to 0.953) and
MUAC (β=1.351 95% CI 1.004 to 1.697) showed a significant association with SBP.
However, MUAC had a significant association with DBP for both unadjusted and
adjusted age and gender. Sitting height (SH) was significantly associated with SBP (β
= 0.134, 95% Cl 0.210 to 0.416) and DBP (β = 0.088, 95% Cl 0.086 to 0.259) for
unadjusted. After adjusted for age and gender, SH was significantly associated with
both SBP (β = 0.161, 95% Cl 0.220 to 0.532) and DBP (β = 0.101, 95% Cl 0.066 to
0.329). There was a positive significant association between BP and anthropometric
indicators in this population study, though the association of DBP and NC disappeared
after adjustments for age and gender. Furthermore, there is a positive significant
association between DBP and SBP with the components of height amongst Ellisras
rural children. NC and MUAC are the simplest techniques with good interrater reliability
and could be used to screen underweight in children. / Vrije University, Amsterdam, The netherlands
University of Limpopo
National Research Foundation (NRF)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/3879 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Ramoshaba, Nthai Elfas |
| Contributors | Monyeki, K. D., Hay, L. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xi, 85 leaves |
| Relation |
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