Background There has been growing support for the adoption of telehealth (TH) services in pediatric populations. Children on chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD) represent a vulnerable population that could benefit from increased use of TH. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid adoption of TH services in the population among pediatric centers participating in The Children's Hospital Association's Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric ESKD (SCOPE) Collaborative. Methods We developed a survey to explore the experience of both pediatric PD providers and caregivers of patients receiving PD care at home and using TH services during the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsWe obtained responses from 27 out of 53 (50.9%) SCOPE centers that included 175 completed surveys from providers and caregivers. Major challenges identified by providers included inadequate/lack of physical exam, inability to visit with the patient/family in-person, and inadequate/lack of PD catheter exit site exam. Only 51% of caregivers desired future TH visits; however, major benefits of TH for caregivers included no travel, visit takes less time, easier to care for other children, more comfortable for patient, and no time off from work. Providers and caregivers agreed that PD TH visits are family centered (p = 0.296), with the lack of a physical exam (p < 0.001) and the inability to meet in-person (p = 0.002) deemed particularly important to caregivers and providers, respectively. Conclusions TH is a productive and viable visit option for children on PD; however, making this a successful, permanent part of routine care will require an individualized approach with standardization of core elements.

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Background The 2022 American Heart Association (AHA) pediatric ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) guidelines eliminated the prehypertension phenotype and blood pressure loads in ABPM interpretation criteria. Adolescents who were prehypertensive or unclassified according to the 2014 AHA pediatric ABPM guidelines will be reclassified as having hypertension or normotension. The epidemiology and association of reclassification phenotype with target organ damage (TOD) is not yet known. Methods A single center retrospective review of adolescents ages 13–21 years old between 2015–2022 was performed. Adolescents diagnosed with prehypertension or unclassified by the 2014 AHA pediatric ABPM guidelines were reclassified by the 2022 definitions. Logistic regression models adjusted for body mass index z-score evaluated the association of reclassification phenotype with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Results Among 88 adolescents with prehypertension, 68% (N = 60) were reclassified as hypertensive. The majority (58%, N = 35) of hypertensive reclassification was based on isolated nocturnal blood pressures ≥ 110/65 mmHg. Taller males were more likely to reclassify as hypertensive. Adolescents reclassified as hypertensive had a greater-than-six-fold increased odds of LVH in adjusted models [OR 6.4 95%CI 1.2–33.0, p = 0.027]. Of 40 adolescents with unclassified blood pressures, 37.5% (N = 15) reclassified to normotension. There were no significant clinical or demographic variables associated with reclassification category nor was there an association with LVH. Conclusions The new ABPM guidelines effectively reclassify adolescents who were previously prehypertensive as normotensive or hypertensive based on risk of TOD. Further studies are needed to describe the long-term outcomes of ABPM phenotypes with the implementation of these guidelines.

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