VITAL SIGNS: RECOMMENDATIONS
VITAL SIGNS: RECOMMENDATIONS; Confronting Hypertension Early
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: August 3, 2004
Citing the nation's rise in obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging pediatricians to routinely check children as young as 3 for high blood pressure.
As a practical matter, many doctors already begin checking blood pressure at about that age. But the recommendations, which appear as a supplement to the August issue of the journal Pediatrics, re-emphasize the importance of doing so.
On the basis of developing evidence, the report says, it is apparent that primary hypertension is detectable in the young and occurs commonly.
And, updating guidelines last issued in 1996, the recommendations give detailed advice about the best way to measure blood pressure in children and redefine the readings that require medical attention, said Dr. Bonita Falkner of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, chairwoman of the group of doctors who developed the report.
Under the new guidelines, children once classified as high normal, that is, whose readings were between the 90th and 95th percentile, are now considered prehypertensive. When the high blood pressure is related to excess weight, the report advises, families should be strongly encouraged to change their children's diet and have them become more active.
The recommendations also detail what drugs can be used in children whose high blood pressure does not respond to lifestyle changes.
Drawing (Illustrations by Stuart Goldenberg)