BP status among ADHD children suggests high stress and anxiety during the COVID-19

What is it about?

This study aimed to analyse the effect of the UK pandemic national lockdown on the cardiovascular health (CVH) of CYP with ADHD regularly followed up in a North West England Community Child Health Clinic. We compared the BP and HR measurements for the CYP before and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (CPL) to assess its effects on their CVH. The CVH of 57 CYP with ADHD was prospectively studied during their clinic reviews, before and after the official commencement of the national UK lockdown on the 26th March 2020. Pre-Hypertension (PreHT)/Elevate BP (EBP) and Hypertension (HT) were defined using both the Great Britain reference charts (between 91st and 98th centile or above 98th centile for age) and the US-based recommendations (between 90th and 95th centile or above 95 percentile for gender, age and height) respectively.

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Why is it important?

The whole world is experiencing an unprecedented period of severe social disruption and economic downturn due to global spread of a rare new strain of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus called Coronavirus. Children and Young people (CYP) are less likely to have severe symptoms from acute COVID-19 infections, but they are more prone to possible several adverse mental health outcomes. Social isolation (eg, marital status, number of close friends and relatives, religious or other group affiliations) is known to be a major cause of stress and risk factor for cardiovascular disease including elevated Blood Pressure (BP) and Heart rates (HR).

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