Pediatric High Blood Pressure

While high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is a fairly common problem in adults, fewer than four percent of all children are diagnosed with this condition, which is often associated with kidney and heart disorders and can be quite dangerous if left untreated. In fact, the younger your child is when diagnosed with high blood pressure, the more likely an existing, underlying illness is involved. Diagnosing the condition may require ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to obtain an accurate reading of a child’s blood pressure as part of an overall evaluation. Factors such as medication, genetics, kidney disorders, poor diet, high stress, a sedentary lifestyle and smoking (or breathing in secondary smoke) can all contribute to high blood pressure in children. Treatments will vary but may include lifestyle modifications, dietary changes, prescribed medications and smoking cessation.