HHS HealthBeat (September 10, 2007)

Children with high blood pressure?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

You might expect middle aged and older people to have high blood pressure. But kids? Well, some do. And a study indicates there’s a good chance nobody has spotted it.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says probably 1.5 million kids ages 3 to 18 have undiagnosed high blood pressure. This means doctors have diagnosed only about a quarter of kids who have it.

Dr. David Kaelber of Children’s Hospital Boston says parents should keep blood pressure in mind when their children see a doctor:

``I think the normal assumption is that, `Well, if a child has a disease, the pediatric provider is going to figure it out.’ And what this study shows is that, that’s really not the case.’’  (10 seconds)

Dr. Kaelber’s work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September, 10 2007