Abu Dhabi: The growing rate of obesity among children in the UAE is contributing to hypertension in individuals as young as five to 10 years of age, medical specialists said in the capital on Thursday.

And high blood pressure at such a young age leads to early kidney function impairment and renal failure, conditions that place a very high financial and emotional burden on patients and families.

In addition, parents also often make the mistake of letting children take high-power painkillers, which also harm the kidneys greatly.

“Kidney damage, although not yet common among children in the UAE, is on the rise. And this is scary because it entails a very high financial toll on families, as well as frequent hospital admissions and resulting psychological impacts,” Dr Zubaida Al Esmaili, deputy chief executive officer at Abu Dhabi Health Services Company’s (Seha) Dialysis Services unit, told Gulf News.

“While there are genetic and developmental causes behind renal failure, perhaps the most worrying type is when children’s kidneys are affected due to unhealthy lifestyles and drug abuse,” she added.

Dr Al Esmaili was speaking on the sidelines of a fetal and paediatric medicine conference in the capital, organised by King’s College Hospital Clinics in Abu Dhabi. The three-day conference is expected to see more than 300 medical professionals in attendance, and was inaugurated on Thursday by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development.

According to statistics compiled by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi, nearly 30 per cent of schoolgoing children in the emirate are either overweight or obese. But doctors at today’s meeting said that children in the UAE are aware of the elements of a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet and regular physical activity.

“We recently surveyed about 450 children who visited the hospital, asking them to differentiate which activities and foods were healthier: swimming or watch TV, an apple or a box of chocolates, for example. All of the children made the right choices, even those who were themselves overweight or obese,” said Dr Asma Deeb, chief paediatric endocrinologist at Mafraq Hospital.

“What this means is that children are educated, but they need to be pushed to implement this knowledge. For one, we need to change the culture wherein adults consider chubby children to be cute or healthy,” she added.

Dr Al Esmaili also cautioned parents against giving their children over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen and voltaren without first consulting a doctor.

“Often, parents are so anxious to lower their children’s body temperatures during a fever that they opt for these high-power medicines without realising that these drugs can hurt the kidneys, especially if the child is dehydrated. In fact, we have seen young children below 10 years of age with kidney problems after they had taken a few doses of these drugs,” she explained.

Instead, parents and physicians should avoid giving painkillers to children as much as possible, and only as a last resort, Dr Al Esmaili advised.