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The number of children and adolescents suffering from high blood pressure doubles

2025-11-13 22:45:00, Shëndeti CNA

The number of children and adolescents suffering from high blood pressure

The number of children and adolescents with high blood pressure worldwide has almost doubled over the past two decades.

In 2020, more than 6% of children and adolescents under the age of 19 had high blood pressure, up from about 3% in 2000, researchers reported Nov. 12 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

The study found that obesity is a major driver of this increase. About 19% of obese children and adolescents have high blood pressure, compared with less than 3% of those with a healthy weight.

“The nearly twofold increase in high blood pressure in children over 20 years should raise alarm bells for healthcare providers and caregivers,” lead researcher Dr. Igor Rudan said in a press release.

He is director of the Center for Global Health Research at the Usher Institute of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Young people with high blood pressure have a higher risk of heart and kidney problems throughout their lives, the researchers said in their preliminary notes.

"But the good news is that we can take steps now, such as improving screening and prevention efforts, to help control high blood pressure in children and reduce the risks of other health complications in the future," Rudan said.

For the study, researchers pooled data from 96 previous studies, including 83 with results of office blood pressure tests for nearly 444,000 children and adolescents.

The results revealed that up to 114 million young people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure. High blood pressure rates in boys and girls increased similarly between 2000 and 2020.

Additionally, more than 9% have hypertension. The study found that 8% of children and adolescents have prehypertension, or high blood pressure levels. The condition is especially prevalent in adolescence, affecting up to 12% of adolescents./ CNA





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