Pediatric hypertension and its management are not as well studied as in adults in both India and worldwide. The guidelines and approach to treatment are still largely dependent on demography and personal experience and expertise of the clinician. This article will try to give an overview of the approach to treating hypertensive pediatric patients. Elevated blood pressure (BP) in childhood may be an early expression of essential hypertension in adulthood.
The factors that have to be taken into account while predicting hypertension are race, ethnicity and geographic origin of the patient. For the reference range of normotensive patients, percentile calculation and age and BMI-dependent table can be obtained from the Reference 1 of this article. In general, the classification and staging follow the following criteria Normal BP – Both systolic and diastolic BP <90th percentile.…
