Hypertension, or elevated blood pressure (BP), is an important cardiovascular risk across the life

course. Hypertension in childhood is associated with hypertension in adulthood and early markers of

cardiovascular diseases. The measurement of childhood hypertension is complicated. According to

the fourth report from the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP) Working

Group in the United States, childhood hypertension is defined as a high BP on at least three separate

occasions based on age-, sex-, and body size-specific cutoffs of BP. With the definition of childhood

hypertension by NHBPEP, childhood hypertension is estimated to affect 4.0% of children aged 7-18

years worldwide.

The etiology and underlying mechanisms vary in different phenotypes (systolic hypertension,

diastolic hypertension, isolated systolic hypertension, isolated diastolic hypertension, or systolic-

diastolic hypertension) or severities (prehypertension, stage 1, or stage 2 hypertension) of childhood

hypertension. Due to the insufficiency of high-quality epidemiologic investigations on childhood

hypertension that have measured BP on at least three separate occasions, the epidemiology of

childhood hypertension phenotypes and severities are not well established, especially within the

Region of the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean Region, Southeast Asia Region, and Western Pacific

Region. Therefore, epidemiological research in the area of childhood hypertension will help to refine

this issue of concern.

This Research Topic aims to provide an up-to-date overview about the epidemiology, risk factors of

childhood hypertension, to enforce our understanding about the significance and to inform

management of hypertensive children. We welcome primary research articles, up-to-date reviews, and

other available article types in the research area of childhood hypertension.

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