High-Risk Kids, Diabetics Need Regular Blood Pressure Checks

Oct. 18 -- FRIDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthDay News) -- To protect long-term heart health, children as young as 3 and diabetics should have their blood pressure checked regularly, experts say.

Once identified, young patients with high blood pressure -- particularly obese children at high risk for developing metabolic syndrome -- should have further testing for a wide range of related risk factors, they added.

Meanwhile, hypertensive diabetics should embark on an individualized plan of attack -- one that focuses on both blood sugar and blood fat control -- to manage their blood pressure.

The suggestions were given during a panel meeting hosted by the American Society for Hypertension (ASH) in New York City last week.

Speakers stressed that the gathering's intent was to put forth the organization's updated positions with respect to the 70 million Americans currently coping with high blood pressure.

Nonetheless, presenters made an effort to place current standard blood pressure guidelines within a context of mounting urgency and concern, by referencing the latest available research and statistics.

"Globally, hypertension is one of the leading world health problems," said Dr. Bonita Falkner, a professor of medicine and pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia. "And we also know that in adults, hypertension has a heightened outcome in terms of morbidity and mortality. And what has been evolving is the connection between childhood and adulthood."

Falkner noted that about 3.5 percent of American children have high blood pressure, while another 3.5 percent have what is known as "prehypertension."

This, she said, translates into about 5 million children with some form of high blood pressure risk. Fueling the problem are the 12 million American children -- roughly 17 percent of the nation's kids -- who are clinically overweight or obese, 30 percent of whom have high blood pressure.

"And when you put obesity and high blood pressure together, there are probably about 5 million children who have the metabolic syndrome, which is a substantial health problem that warrants considerable attention," she added.