Pediatrics Medical News about Children and Adolescents; Blood Pressure

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Simple Table to Identify Children and Adolescents Needing Further Evaluation of Blood Pressure
Pediatrics, 06/05/09

Kaelber DC et al. - Although a long-term solution for the identification of pediatric hypertension and prehypertension may involve electronic medical records and other electronic tools, this proposed simplified blood pressure table should help in the interim and in circumstances where electronic tools may not be available. Because abnormally elevated blood pressure can result in significant decreases in systemic health over time, it is imperative to identify prehypertension and hypertension in the pediatric population and to evaluate further those children and adolescents who have values at or above those presented in this simplified table. This simplified abnormal blood pressure screening table can be used as a very effective screening tool to rule out abnormal blood pressures.

Exclusive Author Commentary
David C. Kaelber, 06/05/09

This article provides an simple and important tool for people interested in identifying potentially abnormal blood pressures. The need for this type of tool stems from the fact that three-quarters of children with hypertension have not been diagnosed, despite the abnormal blood pressures being taken. People taking and looking at the blood pressures do not have an easy way to identify that the blood pressure is abnormal.

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