October 8th, 2013
Screen Kids for High Blood Pressure? USPSTF Says There’s Still Not Enough Evidence
Nicholas Downing, MD
In a reaffirmation of its 2003 guidance, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force maintains that the evidence is insufficient to “assess the balance of benefits and harms” of screening for hypertension in asymptomatic children and adolescents to help lower their future risk for cardiovascular disease. The group’s statement is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and
F. Bruder Stapleton, a pediatrician with NEJM Journal Watch, commented: “We know that childhood blood pressure tracks into adulthood and that hypertension is a proven cardiovascular risk factor in adults…. Determining the lifelong benefit of detecting and treating sustained childhood hypertension is likely never going to have evidence. Nevertheless, we should continue the inexpensive, safe practice of measuring blood pressure in children.”
Originally published in Physician’s First Watch
2 Responses to “Screen Kids for High Blood Pressure? USPSTF Says There’s Still Not Enough Evidence”
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Finding and discussing high blood pressure in children also helps you with the Dx and management of all grades of pre and true obesity, is an important part of what parents and patients want during a pediatric office visit of any category, is a talking point and a welcome bridge to a family and if well done in a new patient, including the welcome of a newborn to the office, could help to Dx coarctation. If combined with O2 Sat could also be a complement to the Dx in the hospital or in the office if the O2 Sat wasn’t done in a third world or rural hospital. I fail to find that it’s not worthwhile, to invest these few minutes doing it
May I say that USPSTF statement is NOT about usfullness of measuring the ABP. It is strictly about the screening, i.e. systematic measuring the ABP in all children at their appearance in the medical facility, and more – in the shops, drugstores etc, and more – during the especially arranged sessions of ABP measurement in school classes etc.
This SCREENING practice may move the balance of the good and harm from the what-we-know or what-we adapted-for to harming the children. It is why we need evidence before we implement the screening.