Teens Risk Cardiac, Vascular Damage at BPs Below Hypertension

[niteeesha]

Target organ damage to the heart and blood vessels can occur in teenagers at blood-pressure levels below the clinical definition of pediatric hypertension, preliminary research suggests. This means we really need to start early on good lifestyle changes, including healthy diet and exercise, to maintain good levels of blood pressure and body proportions so we can prevent hypertension and the consequences such as heart attack and stroke

[bubbly]

@niteeesha Using these measures, we've been able to demonstrate that even at slightly lower levels of blood pressure than might be expected to cause damage, there actually are some changes occurring in adolescence. The take-home message is that damage may be occurring to important organs like the heart (increased LV mass) at BP levels lower than the established definition of hypertension in youth (the age-, sex- and height-specific 99th percentile of BP in healthy kids)