Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-4-2022
Abstract
Beginning in the 1970s, hypertension in children and adolescents has been defined as systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure (BP) that is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile of the normal BP distribution in healthy children. The definition of hypertension in adults is based on longitudinal data that links a BP level with an increased risk for subsequent adverse outcomes related to hypertension including heart failure, kidney failure, stroke, or death. The statistical definition of hypertension continues to be used in childhood because there have been no data that link a BP level in childhood with a heightened risk for adverse outcomes in adulthood. Findings from clinical and epidemiologic research have advanced understanding of high BP in childhood. While hypertension in some children can be secondary to underlying kidney, cardiovascular, or endocrine disorder, it is now known that primary (essential) hypertension can be present in childhood. The prevalence of hypertension in childhood is approximately 2-5% and another 13-18% of children and adolescents have elevated BP and are at heightened risk for developing hypertension. The leading cause of childhood hypertension is primary hypertension, especially in adolescents. For children and adolescents with secondary hypertension, the treatment can focus on managing the underlying cause of hypertension. Less is known about managing primary hypertension in childhood, including diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, and possibilities for prevention. The phenotype of primary hypertension in childhood and recent findings will be discussed.
Recommended Citation
Falkner, Bonita, "The Enigma of Primary Hypertension in Childhood" (2022). Department of Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 392.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/medfp/392
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
36407424
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author's final published version Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, Volume 9, November 2022, Article number 1033628.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.1033628.
Copyright © 2022 Falkner.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.