Undiagnosed prehypertension/hypertension in Canadian adolescents: The critical role of the public health nurse

Objective To investigate the prevalence of undiagnosed prehypertension/hypertension and other associated comorbidities in adolescents living in rural and urban settings in a mid‐Western Canadian province. Design and measures Data reported herein were derived from two cross‐sectional studies, whereby adolescents attending either a rural ( N  = 143) or urban ( N  = 253) school were screened for blood pressure, anthropometric measures, and blood glucose measurements. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics in addition to chi‐square analyses. Results Notable prevalence of undiagnosed prehypertension/hypertension was found. Adolescents living in urban settings (49%, N  = 123) were significantly more likely to have prehypertension/hypertension than rural (23%, N  = 33) living adolescents. With regard to other comorbidities, the prevalence of elevated HbA1c in the urban group (32%) was significantly higher than the rural adolescents (19%); however, there was similar prevalence of overweight/obese adolescents between the urban (37%) and rural (36%) groups. Conclusions The prevalence of adolescent undiagnosed prehypertension/hypertension, elevated blood glucose measurements, and overweight/obesity is concerning in both urban and rural settings. Public health nurses are uniquely positioned in health care to facilitate interventions focused on preventing and managing adolescent prehypertension/hypertension and its associated comorbidities.