Delhi School Kids Suffering From Hypertension, Diabetes

A study was conducted by AIIMS, Delhi among 1,985 students from three government schools and 1,903 students from two private schools of Delhi.

New Delhi:Cravings for fast food and decreasing physical and sports activities have taken a toll on the health condition of school children in Delhi leaving them with health issues like obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

This has been revealed in a study conducted by AIIMS, Delhi among students of government and private school of the national capital. Doctors have advised proper diet and regular physical activities to avoid such problems.

A total of 3,888 children, aged six to 19 years from five schools, were included in the study, which revealed that cardio-metabolic problems were no longer issues that were restricted only to adults.

The main purpose of the study was to understand hidden health risks among children. One-third of the children were found to be suffering from dyslipidemia, a condition where there are abnormal levels of lipids, including cholesterol and triglycerides, in the blood. Not only this, the blood sugar of 15.02% adolescents was more than 100 mg per deciliter, which is considered to be a pre-diabetic condition.

AIIMS doctors conducted this study on 1,985 children from three government schools and 1,903 children from two private schools. While a general health checkup was conducted for younger children, health parameters like blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes were checked for students, aged 10 to 19 years.

Data of government and private schools revealed:

Parameters	Govt Schools (in %)	Private Schools (in %)
Underweight	8.09	1.69
Overweight	7.63	24.02
Obesity	4.40	22.70
Waist Obesity	1.83	16.77
Pre-Hypertension	8.67	9.93
Hypertension	7.44	7.27
High Cholesterol	3.36	5.90
Borderline Cholesterol	10.85	21.07
High Triglyceride	7.03	9.28

Doctors' advise

Doctors involved in the study said that the primary reason for these problems among children is their deteriorating lifestyle. These problems are increasing due to poor food habits and lack of physical activity, doctors said. They have advised parents to pay special attention to the diet of children and encourage them to do physical activities daily.