Why the study?
The prevalence of masked hypertension in pediatric populations varies widely from 0 to 60%, raising questions about which healthy children and adolescents should be screened.
Who should be screened for masked hypertension among healthy children and adolescents?
Who should be screened for masked hypertension among healthy children and adolescents?
Screening for masked hypertension in healthy children should be limited to those with high-normal/elevated office BP, positive family history, or those referred for suspected hypertension who have normal office BP.
May support selective screening in children with risk factors or elevated office BP; leaves open optimal criteria and outcomes in prospective studies.
The prevalence of MH in different pediatric populations differs widely between 0 and 60% based on the population studied, definition of MH, or method of out-of-office BP measurement. The highest prevalence of MH has been demonstrated in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD), obesity, diabetes, and after heart transplantation. In healthy children but with risk factors for hypertension such as prematurity, overweight/obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or positive family history of hypertension, the prevalence of MH is 9%. In healthy children without risk factors for hypertension, the prevalence of MH is very low ranging 0-3%. In healthy children, only patients with the following clinical conditions should be screened for MH: high-normal/elevated office BP, positive family history of hypertension, and those referred for suspected hypertension who have normal office BP in the secondary/tertiary center.
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Seeman et al. (2023) studied this question.
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