PREVALÊNCIA DE FATORES DE RISCO CARDIOVASCULAR EM CRIANÇAS: UMA REVISíO INTEGRATIVA

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the prevalence of the main cardiovascular risk factors in children in the scientific literature. Characterize the articles according to their year of publication, country, sample size and age of the children evaluated and identify the main cardiovascular risk factors found in the literature. METHODS: An integrative literature review, the research was carried out between August and December 2020 and the PubMed and Virtual Health Library databases were used. The article includes 36 cross-sectional studies covering the years 2005-2020.RESULTS: Studies from almost all continents were found. There was a high prevalence of overweight among children and a significant relationship between overweight and dyslipidemia, increased blood pressure, hyperinsulinemia and metabolic syndrome. In most studies there was a higher prevalence of overweight among boys (8.6% to 30.6%), compared to girls (3.8% to 23.5%), prevalence of high blood pressure reaching 40.7% in overweight children. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The prevalence of risk factors was present, highlighting the need to plan actions to reduce the occurrence of these health problems in children. Prevention measures should be taken as an aid to public health prevention policies. As a contribution to other works to be developed addressing methods of investigation of risk factors, other parameters should be included, showing greater sensitivity in identifying changes, such as the measurement of neck circumference in children.