Do children also suffer from hypertension?
People generally believe that hypertension only occurs in adults, especially middle-aged and elderly people. In fact, children can also have hypertension. With the improvement of living standards and changes in diet structure and lifestyle habits, the number of obese children has increased, and there is a growing trend of hypertension in children. Beijing Children's Hospital once conducted a blood pressure survey on 5,000 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18, and found that 9.36% of them had high blood pressure. In Japan and the United States, the incidence of hypertension in children is 13.3% and 14.1%, respectively. The incidence of hypertension in children is 0.6% to 11% in foreign countries and 1% to 7% in China, with a significantly increased detection rate in children with a family history of hypertension.
Due to the fact that children cannot or rarely report symptoms correctly, and pediatricians do not pay enough attention to children's blood pressure, hypertension in children is easily missed.
Hypertension in children can also cause headaches, dizziness, seizures, and vomiting. About half of children may have no symptoms at all. The majority of hypertension in middle-aged and elderly people originates from mild hypertension in adolescence, which can also start in childhood. Therefore, early detection and treatment of hypertension in children are of great significance for preventing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in middle-aged and elderly people.
What are the characteristics of hypertension in children?
Children are more likely to have secondary hypertension, accounting for 65% to 80%, and primary hypertension is less common, accounting for 20% to 30%, but there is a increasing trend in recent years.
Among children with secondary hypertension, kidney diseases account for 79%, followed by cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disorders, neurological disorders, and poisoning, etc. Kidney diseases mainly include renal parenchymal diseases and renal vascular diseases.
The etiology of primary hypertension in children is not yet clear. Currently, it is believed to be related to factors such as genetics, obesity, and diet. The probability of children developing hypertension is significantly higher if they have relatives with hypertension in the family, with a detection rate of 8.91% in a survey conducted in Beijing.
Obesity can also cause hypertension, and reducing weight can often lower blood pressure. There is a clear relationship between the increase in sodium salt in the diet and the occurrence of hypertension. Recent studies by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States have found a close relationship between video game consoles and induced hypertension in children.
Researchers in the United States also suggest that hypertension in children is related to respiratory conditions during sleep. This research result was announced at the American Heart Association conference held in San Antonio on October 7, 2006.
