Prevalence of hypertension in argentinean indigenous children living at high altitudes versus US children

ABSTRACTBackground: Exposure to hypoxia at high altitude is increasingly being recognized as a risk factor for hypertension.Objective: To compare the prevalence of hypertension in Indigenous Argentinean children living at high altitude with that reported in the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of US children.Methods: A cross-sectional study of 811 (400 females) Argentinean Indigenous school children (8–14 years) from San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC) was performed between 2011–2014. SAC is located in the Andean foothills 3,750 m above sea level. 98% of its population is Indigenous. Anthropometric, BP, and biochemical data were obtained from SAC and compared with those of 1279 (625 females) US children. Pre-hypertension and hypertension were defined by BP≥90th to <95th percentile or ≥95th percentile, respectively.Results: The prevalence of obesity was significantly lower in SAC (22; 2.7%) than in the US (310; 24.3%). However, the prevalence of hypertension was significantly...