Call for routine high blood pressure tests on children in UK as cases almost double

Leading doctors have called for a UK-wide scheme to monitor schoolchildren for high blood pressure amid concerns rising rates in adolescents will increase cases of organ damage, strokes and heart attacks.

- Ian Sample

Rates of high blood pressure have nearly doubled among children in the past 20 years, but no routine testing is done in the UK, leaving doctors in the dark about the extent of the problem and which children need most help.

Identifying those with high blood pressure would enable GPs to intervene early and lower the risk of organ damage and potentially life-threatening cardiovascular disease as people reach their 30s and 40s, doctors said.

“We need to find out how bad the problem is, and that means finding a way to measure blood pressure in children still at school,” said Prof Manish Sinha, a consultant paediatric nephrologist at the Evelina London children’s hospital, Guy’s & St Thomas’ foundation hospitals NHS trust.

“The fundamental issue is that people don’t recognise that hypertension can be a childhood problem. We have a more unhealthy childhood population, and hypertension puts them at greater risk of events like kidney disease, stroke and heart attack earlier in their adult lives,” he added.

Nearly a third of British adults and half in the US have hypertension. Prevalence rises steeply with age as blood vessels naturally thicken and stiffen, and most people over 65 have the condition. Beyond age and genetics, poor diet, especially one high in salt, physical inactivity, being overweight or obese, drinking too much alcohol and smoking all contribute.

In young children, high blood pressure is mainly caused by medical issues such as heart defects, kidney disease, genetic disorders or hormonal problems. But doctors are seeing more cases linked to excess weight, poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

Dr Emily Haseler, who studies childhood hypertension at King’s College London, said the rise in cases was on course to become a further burden on the NHS, damaging productivity as more working-age people suffered the impacts of high blood pressure.