title: Pediatric Hypertension: Are Pediatricians Following Guidelines?
abstract: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends that children older than 3 years seen in the medical setting have their blood pressure (BP) measured. The authors aimed to determine whether BPs are measured at well-child visits and whether elevated readings are recognized. A retrospective chart review of 3- to 18-year-old children seen for well-child visits was performed. Age, sex, weight, height, BP, extremity measured, and type of intervention were collected. BP was measured in 777 of 805 patients (97%). BP was elevated in 158 patients (20%). A total of 95 patients (60%) did not receive any intervention. Not recognizing elevated BP was associated with increased daily patient load (17.9±6.5 vs 12.6±5.5, P=.001). Higher body mass index was associated with elevated BP (P=.0008) but was not associated with improved recognition. Findings show that BP is almost always measured at well-child visits but is not being measured appropriately, and general pediatric clinics are not consistently following BP management recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Divison of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
authors.forename: Neil D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatrics, Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, OH.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Newburn
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Brier
authors.affiliation: Abbvie, North Chicago, IL.|University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL.
authors.forename: Deepa H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Chand
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D000072143:Pediatricians; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors