Predictors and Consequences of Pediatric Hypertension: Have Advanced Echocardiography and Vascular Testing Arrived?

Abstract

Pediatric hypertension is relatively common and associated with future adult hypertension. Elevated blood pressure in youth predicts future adult cardiovascular disease and blood pressure control can prevent progression of pediatric kidney disease. However, pediatric blood pressure is highly variable within a given child and among children in a population. Therefore, modalities to index aggregate and cumulative blood pressure status are of potential benefit in identifying youth in danger of progression from a risk factor of subclinical phenotypic alteration to clinically apparent event. In this review, we advocate for the health risk stratification roles of echocardiographically assessed cardiac remodeling, arterial stiffness assessment, and assessment by ultrasound of arterial thickening in children and adolescents with hypertension.