Adolescents with prehypertension and hypertension become hypertensive adults

Data from the National Childhood Blood Pressure Database show that adolescents with untreated (drug or lifestyle treatment) hypertension or prehypertension are more likely to become adults with hypertension. The study was presented by Dr. Bonita Falkner, Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, at the 21st Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension and reported in a press release by the society.

Falkner and her colleagues compared single blood pressure readings taken two years apart in 4,147 boys and 4,386 girls between the ages of 13 and 15 years. A linear increase (from normal blood pressure to prehypertension to hypertension) in the adolescents classified with hypertension at the second examination. The progression of prehypertension to hypertension was approximately 7% annually.

In boys, weight was predictive of higher blood pressure, with a higher body mass index and continuing to gain weight associated with higher blood pressure, whereas in girls, age was more significant, with girls 15 years old having higher blood pressure compared to 13 year old girls.

“These findings are valuable, because while an adult’s current blood pressure level is the strongest indicator of that individual’s blood pressure in the future, the variability of blood pressure in the young make it less clear how well blood pressure classification at any particular point in time predicts subsequent blood pressure classification in an otherwise healthy adolescent population. Knowing which youngsters are most likely to progress to hypertension would provide the ability to target preventive interventions,” Dr. Falkner said.