Overweight in children turns out to be a major problem. This established a campaign for free cardiology examinations at UMBAL "St. Ekaterina". Cardiologist Prof. Nezabravka Chilingirova spoke to FAKTI.
- Prof. Chilingirova, on the occasion of World Heart Day at the end of September, you performed free examinations for children. What did they show?
- To my delight, none of the children we examined were seriously ill. Two of the children had things related to congenital problems that they have had since before birth, but they are being followed up. The main problem in the children I examined was overweight.
- How do you explain this to yourself, why is there such a problem with children?
- This is part of the life we lead. Perhaps this is due to improper nutrition, reduced physical activity, increased time spent in front of electronic devices.
- What does this lead to in children?
- Being overweight can lead to early childhood hypertension, insulin resistance and other endocrinological problems. When children are overweight, they get tired more easily, complain of headaches, and may have increased blood pressure. When they have high blood pressure, they have no desire to study, do anything, they prefer to lie down, eat and be lazy.
- Why regular check-ups with a pediatric cardiologist are important. What should parents know?
- It is good for a child to be examined by a pediatric cardiologist before starting school. Children who have congenital heart malformations are also known prenatally. Other problems are detected immediately after birth, but there are individual diseases that, if the child does not go to a pediatric cardiologist, may be missed. For this reason, we advise parents, before their children go to school, to take them to a pediatric cardiologist in order to rule out possible heart problems, rhythm disturbances, increased arterial pressure, which can also be affected by viral infections.< /p>
- In order for a child's heart to be healthy, what should be done?
- First, the child must be born with a healthy heart. After that, the child must eat properly, have more physical activity, not eat the so-called “junk” – snacks, chips, no too sweet things, no sodas, juices that are high in sugar, etc.
- What symptoms tell us that the child should visit a cardiologist. What should parents pay attention to?
- The child can get tired even while eating. Frequent sweating can also be a symptom of heart failure. If we have restless, crying babies who have difficulty feeding - they should go to a cardiologist to rule out a congenital heart malformation. Another characteristic is if the child gets tired faster than his peers, if he is not calm - it is good to see a pediatric cardiologist.