Nearly 10 per cent of higher secondary students of city government schools are hypertensive and 26 per cent are anaemic, according to a new medical study.
The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GH) released the results of a first-of-itskind detailed medical study done among 5,097 higher secondary school children in city government-run schools and the results are alarming.
The corporation of Chennai initiated the study, conducted from August, and the results were released on Wednesday, coinciding with World Diabetes Day.
“It was shocking for us to know that even the lower economic strata in the city is not entirely immune to lifestyle diseases.
School children, already loaded academically, are nowadays spending all their extra time indoors, playing games or watching TV.
The absolute lack of physical exercise or any kind of sport is not helping either,” explained Dr Kanagasabai, dean, GH.
Students are overweight but lack nutrients. Unless they play more and choose healthy drinks, they can develop complications later, he said.