Blood Pressure Percentiles for School Children

Objective: The prevalence of hypertension in childhood and adolescence is gradually increasing. We aimed to in­vestigate the blood pressure (BP) values of children aged 7-18 years. Methods: This study was conducted in a total of 3375 (1777 females, 1598 males) children from 27 schools. Blood pressures of children were measured using sphyg­momanometer appropriate to arm circumference. Results: A positive relationship was found between sys­tolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and the body weight, height, age and body mass index (BMI) in male and female children. SBP was high­er in males than females after the age of 13. DBP was higher in males than the females after the age of 14. The mean annual increase of SBP was 2.06 mmHg in males and 1.54 mmHg in females. The mean annual increase of DBP was 1.52 mmHg in males and 1.38 mmHg in fe­males. Conclusion: In this study, we identified the threshold val­ues for blood pressure in children between the age of 7 and 18 years in Erzurum province. It is necessary to com­bine and evaluate data obtained from various regions for the identification of BP percentiles according to the age, gender and height percentiles of Turkish children

COVID-19 in pediatric nephrology centers in Turkey

Background/aim: There is limited data on COVID-19 disease in children with kidney disease. We aimed to investigate the characteristics and prognosis of COVID-19 in pediatric nephrology patients in Turkey. Materials and methods: This was a national, multicenter, retrospective cohort study based on an online survey evaluating the data between 11th March 2020 and 11th March 2021 as an initial step of a detailed pediatric nephrology COVID-19 registry. Results: Two hundred and three patients (89 girls and 114 boys) were diagnosed with COVID-19. One-third of these patients (36.9%) were between 10–15 years old. Half of the patients were on kidney replacement therapy: kidney transplant (KTx) recipients (n = 56, 27.5%), patients receiving chronic hemodialysis (n = 33, 16.3%) and those on peritoneal dialysis (PD) (n = 18, 8.9%). Fifty-four (26.6%) children were asymptomatic. Eighty-two (40.3%) patients were hospitalized and 23 (28%) needed intensive care unit admission. Fifty-five percent of the patients were not treated, while the remaining was given favipiravir (20.7%), steroid (16.3%), and hydroxychloroquine (11.3%). Acute kidney injury developed in 19.5% of hospitalized patients. Five (2.4%) had MIS-C. Eighty-three percent of the patients were discharged without any apparent sequelae, while 7 (3.4%) died. One hundred and eight health care staff were infected during the study period. Conclusion: COVID-19 was most commonly seen in patients who underwent KTx and received HD. The combined immunosuppressive therapy and frequent exposure to the hospital setting may increase these patients’ susceptibility. Staff infections before vaccination era were alarming, various precautions should be taken for infection control, particularly optimal vaccination coverage