Kids and high blood pressure - Is your pediatrician screening your child?

High blood pressure and children are usually not something we think about in the same sentence. Most parents would not worry about their child having high blood pressure because we think this is an adult disease.These facts about hypertension in children may surprise you:

• High blood pressure affects as many as 4 million children in the U.S.
• More frequent and more severe in black families than in whites.
• If untreated, can lead to heart failure and death.
• Risk factors include obesity and having a parent with high blood pressure.
• It's a condition that doctors often fail to diagnose

• All children age 3 and older should have annual blood pressure checks.
• Doctors should evaluate the readings with charts that indicate normal blood pressure by age, gender and height.
• Because children can squirm and also have very small arms, it is recommended that pediatricians obtain three blood pressure readings during a visit and average them.