Evaluation of Blood Pressure in Pediatric Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Healthy Children; A Case-control Study

Kazem Ghaffari; Mohammad Amin Aghajari; Ali Ghasemi; Yazdan Ghandi; Vahid Falahati

doi:10.4103/abr.abr_157_21

Evaluation of Blood Pressure in Pediatric Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Healthy Children; A Case-control Study

Adv Biomed Res. 2022 May 30:11:40. doi: 10.4103/abr.abr_157_21. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kazem Ghaffari¹, Mohammad Amin Aghajari², Ali Ghasemi³, Yazdan Ghandi⁴, Vahid Falahati²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic and Laboratory Sciences, Khomein University of Medical Sciences, Khomein, Iran.
² Clinical Research Development Center of Amirkabir Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
⁴ Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.

Abstract

Background: The exact prevalence of hypertension in children surviving acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has not been fully estimated. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of arterial hypertension (AH) and to determine the risk factors for the development of AH in children surviving ALL with current treatments.

Materials and methods: A total of 150 patients (84 males, 66 females, with an age range of 1-16 years) were included in the study. Demographic and clinical information of patients were initially recorded. Hypertension is defined as average systolic blood pressure (BP) and/or diastolic BP that is greater than the 95^th percentile for gender, age, and height.

Results: The mean age at the assessment of BP was 11.3 and 9.8 years in the ALL and control group, respectively. A total of 20.6% of survivors of ALL and 10% of controls had high BP. Most patients in both groups had normal BP (65.3% patients in ALL group and 75.4% subjects in the control group). The number of patients with hypertension was significantly higher in ALL patients as compared with the control group (P = 0.026).

Conclusion: The prevalence of AH in children surviving ALL is higher than in children in the general population, which emphasizes the need for regular monitoring of BP in children surviving ALL and intervention in the lifestyle of this population. Careful follow-up of BP status is warranted for long-term survivors of childhood cancer.

Keywords: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Children; Hypertension; Survivors.