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Progression of Prehypertension to Hypertension in Adolescents

  • Pediatric Hypertension (JT Flynn, Section Editor)
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Abstract

In the 2004 report from the National High Blood Pressure (BP) Education Program Working Group on BP in Children and Adolescents, the term “high normal BP” was replaced with the designation “prehypertension”. It was proposed that BP levels that were higher than normal but did not reach the level of hypertension posed an increased risk for progression to hypertension. The overall intent of this description was to help identify children who were at the greatest risk for the development of hypertension. These are children and adolescents for whom targeted prevention programs are expected to be most beneficial. Following the 2004 report, the prehypertension condition has been examined and described in adolescents as well as adults. This review summarizes the knowledge that has been gained on prehypertension including clinical characteristics, rates of progression to hypertension, and evidence of cardiovascular pathology.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Redwine is funded in part by the UAMS Center for Clinical and Translational Research Institute KL2 Scholars Program (8 KL2TR000063-04), the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, the major research component of the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act of 2000.

Dr. Falkner received support in part from a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (RO1 HL092030).

Disclosure

K. M. Redwine: has received a grant from the UAMS Center for Clinical and Translational Research; B. Falkner: has received a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Institutes of Health, and has served as a consultant to Merck, Pfizer, and Takeda.

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Correspondence to Bonita Falkner.

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Redwine, K.M., Falkner, B. Progression of Prehypertension to Hypertension in Adolescents. Curr Hypertens Rep 14, 619–625 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-012-0299-y

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