Tensed about pediatric hypertension?
5-7% of children have abnormally high blood pressure. Pediatric high blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when one’s blood pressure reaches a predetermined threshold. In kids this threshold is determined by their sex, age and height. In today’s podcast, we discuss the basics of pediatric hypertension—including common causes, risk factors, screening, symptoms and reading the systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) numbers - with pediatric nephrologist Dr. Lavjay Butani. We debunk the misconception that hypertension is an “adult disease,” and explore why nephrologists, or kidney doctors, are the go-to physicians for children with high blood pressure.
This episode was written by Dr. Lavjay Butani, Dr. Dean Blumberg, Dr. Lena van der List & Aarya Gupta.
We thank Dr. Lavjay Butani, a pediatric nephrologist at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, for joining us for this episode, although Drs. Lena and Dean take full responsibility for any efforts or misinformation.
Supplemental information:
- Healthy Children Screening & Treating Kids for High Blood Pressure: AAP Report Explained
- Boston Children’s Hospital Hypertension symptoms & causes in children
- American Heart Association High Blood Pressure in Children
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention High Blood Pressure in Kids and Teens
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sodium and Children
- US Department of Agriculture MyPlate
Photo from Everyday Health
