Background: Hypertension (HPT) is a major public health problem. Many\nstudies have attempted to investigate HPT in school children. Few, however,\nhave targeted hospital HPT. We conducted this study to describe the epidemiologic\ncharacteristics, etiologies, management, and outcome of hospital\nHPT in our setting. Methods: This was a prospective and descriptive study\ncarried out from March 01 through June 30, 2017 in the pediatric departments\nof two university hospitals: Centre National Hospitalier Universitaire Hubert\nK. Maga and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la MÃ?¨re et de Lââ?¬â?¢Enfant Lagune\nof Cotonou, Benin. Every consecutive patient aged 3 to 18 years who was\nadmitted to the two hospitals for any reason had his (her) BP measured. Every\npatient with HPT was reviewed for demographics, history and clinical examination,\nand laboratory investigations as appropriate. Management was done\naccordingly. Outcome was also recorded. Results: The hospital frequency of\nHPT was 1.98% (31 cases/1565 admissions). The male/female ratio was 1.06\n(16 males, 15 females). Mean age was 8.5 years Ã?± 4.39 (range, 3 to 16 years).\n74.19% patients had Body mass index within âË?â??2SD and +2SD. Only one patient\nhad BMI above +3SD. The main etiologies found were renal: acute tubular\nnecrosis (45.16%), acute glomerulonephritis (16.13%), and acute pyelonephritis\n(12.90%). Diuretics (64.5%), were the main antihypertensive drugs\nused. A single drug therapy was used in 35.4%, a two-drug therapy in 32.2%\nand a three-drug therapy in 9.6% of cases. Length of hospital stay was more\nthan one week in 70.97% of cases. Hospital death rate for HPT was 19.35%. The\noutcome was not known in one patient due to exit from hospital against medical\nadvice. All the other patients fully recovered at one month post-discharge follow-up. Conclusion: HPT presents as a symptomatic disease in our hospitals;\nit has a renal etiology in most cases and has significant death rate despite\ntreatment. Advocacy with health authorities must be the way out of issues of\nHPT management in our setting.
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