AUTHOR=Lewis Michaela N. , Shatat Ibrahim F. , Phillips Shannon M. TITLE=Screening for Hypertension in Children and Adolescents: Methodology and Current Practice Recommendations JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics VOLUME=5 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2017.00051 DOI=10.3389/fped.2017.00051 ISSN=2296-2360 ABSTRACT=

Hypertension (HTN) requires urgent, uniform, and consistent attention across all frontiers of pediatric health care not only because of established links between the onset of HTN during one’s youth and its sustenance throughout adulthood but also because of the sequelae associated with the disease’s trajectory, such as cardiovascular disease, end organ damage, and decreased quality of life. Although national guidelines for the diagnosis and management of pediatric HTN have been available for nearly 40 years, knowledge and recognition of the problem by clinicians remain poor due to a host of influencing factors. The purpose of this article is to explicate key issues contributing to the inaccurate measurement of blood pressure and misclassification of HTN among children and to present strategies to address these issues.