Juvenile Hypertension: Highlights of a Workshop

Hypertension in children.

“…We may now reasonably re-examine whether children ought to be screened for hypertension, how the condition is to be defined, its relations to future adult hypertension and hence impaired health, and the criteria for treatment-all topics which were discussed at a recent workshop convened by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 2 Blood pressure in children increases progressively with age, the increase being more considerable for systolic pressure, so that any definition of normal and abnormal blood pressure must take age into account. Furthermore, the method of measurement (with respect to such factors as posture and cuff width) should be standardised and identical with that used for the reference population.…”