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The utility of resting pulse rate in defining high blood pressure among adolescents in Mbarara municipality, Uganda

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 35, pages 1012–1019 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

High resting pulse rate (RPR) is associated with adverse cardiovascular events and could be used as a marker of cardiovascular health. We determined the correlation between RPR and blood pressure (BP); and its accuracy in defining high blood pressure among adolescents attending secondary schools in Mbarara municipality, south-western Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional study among secondary school adolescents aged 12–19 years in Mbarara municipality, Uganda. We captured demographic characteristics using a structured questionnaire; and measured anthropometric indices and BP. We performed a linear regression analysis to determine the relationship between RPR and blood pressure and plotted receiver operating characteristics curves (ROC) to assess the accuracy of RPR in defining high BP. We enrolled 616 adolescents with a mean age of 15.6 ± 2.0 years and 65.6% (404/616) were female. The RPR was significantly correlated with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in both boys (Beta = 0.22 [95% CI: 0.10; 0.36]), p < 0.001 and girls (Beta = 0.51 [95% CI: 0.43; 0.60]), p < 0.001. RPR was significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) only in the girls (Beta = 0.23 [95% CI: 0.15; 0.30]), p < 0.001. The optimal threshold for RPR in defining prehypertension was RPR ≥ 76 bpm with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.653 [95% CI: 0.583–0.722], the sensitivity of 0.737 and specificity of 0.577. In defining hypertension, the optimal threshold was RPR ≥ 79 bpm at a sensitivity of 0.737 and specificity of 0.719, with an AUC of 0.728 [95% CI: 0.624–0.831]. Resting pulse rate was positively correlated with BP and was more accurate in defining hypertension compared to prehypertension in the study.

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Fig. 1: Showing the Pearson correlation of resting pulse rate with blood pressure of the participants.
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4: ROC curve sowing the overall prehypertension definition by resting pulse rate among adolescents.
Fig. 5: ROC curve showing the overall AUC of resting pulse rate in defining hypertension among adolescents.

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Data availability

The dataset is available on request from the corresponding other.

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Acknowledgements

I am (Godfrey Katamba) thankful to my family, friends, and the participants from the various data collection sites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, King Ceasor University, Kampala, Uganda

    Godfrey Katamba

  2. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda

    David Collins Agaba, Rosemary Namayanja & Richard Migisha

  3. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University, Mbale, Uganda

    Agnes Namaganda

  4. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, King Ceasor University, Kampala, Uganda

    Abdul Musasizi

  5. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, King Ceasor University, Kampala, Uganda

    Mivule Abdul Kinene

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  7. Richard Migisha
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Contributions

GK, RM, and DCA: conceptualization of work and its realization, wrote the manuscript, checked the references, compiled the literature sources, data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation of data, and wrote the manuscript and is the corresponding author. RN, DCA, RM: mentored the conceptualization of work and its realization, compiling literature sources and statistical analysis, helped in data interpretation, guided manuscript writing, checked the references. AN, AM, MAK: assent and consent form administration, data collection, data entry, and analysis. All authors read and approved the study manuscript.

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Correspondence to Godfrey Katamba.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the research ethics committee of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (IRB No. 18/03–18) We also obtained permission to collect data from the school headteachers. The class teachers were informed about the purpose of the study and all potential participants were first sensitized about study procedures, possible benefits, and risks. Adolescents of 12–17 years freely assented, and consent for their participation was obtained through their teachers. We obtained written informed consent from adolescents aged 18–19 years.

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Katamba, G., Agaba, D.C., Namayanja, R. et al. The utility of resting pulse rate in defining high blood pressure among adolescents in Mbarara municipality, Uganda. J Hum Hypertens 35, 1012–1019 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-020-00444-w

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