A new study aimed to update blood pressure guidelines among children revealed that thousands of children have hypertension. Even more alarming, a large chunk of the population is left undiagnosed, leaving children at risk of having life-threatening diseases in later life.
Daily Mail reports that American children as young as three years old may be at risk of developing heart diseases, stroke, diabetes and even cancer as adults. Sixty-seven percent of children is found to have undiagnosed hypertension and 23 percent were identified to have elevated blood levels. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the children were seen to have prehypertension symptoms.
Dr. David Kaelbel led the hallmark study, as funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to the researchers, it proves how pediatric care has been lax in diagnosing hypertension among children.
Even though pediatric care in the United States entails regular blood pressure checks for adults and children alike, Dr. Kaelbel said that health practitioners are inefficient in "putting pieces of the puzzle together in terms of interpretation." He added that pediatric care practitioners also do not follow appropriate guidelines for the treatment of hypertension.
Dr. Kaelbel and his team from Case Western Reserve University conducted the study by collecting data from electronic health records of children at least three years old up to 19-year-old adults. The researchers also found out that only six percent of the population with diagnosed hypertension received treatment.
Also, Dr. Kaelbel and team found out that a specific group of individuals are more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension and prehypertension. Male children who are tall and obese or overweight are more significantly expected to develop the condition.
Recommendations for improving diagnosis and management of #hypertension in #children. https://t.co/Sm6OITKITI @AmerAcadPeds
— NEJM Journal Watch (@JWatch) July 20, 2016
"This study shows that many pediatricians are not responding to this new reality," Dr. Kaelbel said. "Not only are we underdiagnosing hypertension, but we're often not providing recommended treatment to children with the condition in order to minimize health risks."
According to Kids Health, high blood pressure in children can be due to several factors. One is because of an underlying medical condition, such as prematurity or health problems concerning the heart or kidney.
Hypertension can also be brought by an unhealthy lifestyle, most especially if an individual carries a family history of the condition. Unhealthy lifestyle includes lack of proper diet, stress and being sedentary.
