Does the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics guideline change the estimated prevalence of elevated blood pressure and hypertension in children aged 10 to 17 compared to the 2004 Fourth Report guidelines?
The implementation of the 2017 AAP guidelines increases the classification of elevated blood pressure in children compared to the 2004 guidelines, particularly affecting shorter children under 13 and taller children 13 and older.
In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new clinical practice guideline for defining hypertension in children as an update to the previous Fourth Report guidelines issued in 2004. Prevalence of confirmed pediatric hypertension in children has ranged from 2% to 4% based on previous guidelines yet it is unknown what the prevalence is under the new guideline. We estimated the prevalence of elevated blood pressure, stage 1, and stage 2 hypertension by the new American Academy of Pediatrics guideline in our school-based blood pressure screening program. New prevalence estimates were compared with Fourth Report prevalence estimates in the same population by sex, age, and height factors. In 22 224 students aged 10 to 17 years screened in school as part of the Houston Pediatric and Hypertension Program at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School, the prevalence of elevated blood pressure (previously called prehypertension) increased from 14.8% by Fourth Report to 16.3% by the new American Academy of Pediatrics guideline. This increase in elevated blood pressure resulted from differential classification changes in younger and older children. Prevalence of confirmed hypertension remains at 2% to 4% in this population, however shorter children <13 years old and taller, older children 13+ years old are systematically more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension by new guidelines.
Bell et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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