First of a two-part series on cardiovascular prevention in children. Read part two.

As childhood obesity has increased over the past 30 years, so has pediatric hypertension, which now affects one in 20 children. However, 48 percent of children with high blood pressure (BP) are of normal weight; other risk factors include low birth weight, which has also increased in the past 30 years (more recently dipping slightly to about 8 percent of births).

While children with hypertension rarely develop diseases that adults do, such as myocardial infarction, heart failure and stroke, they are at risk for adult hypertension and early symptoms of heart disease. “Attacking pediatric hypertension is the next frontier in cardiovascular disease prevention,” says Justin Zachariah, MD, MPH, of the Department of Cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital.

The Affordable Care Act’s mandate to identify elevated BP in children is expected to increase referrals for screening. But diagnosing pediatric hypertension through BP screening in the clinic can be problematic. In a recent study, Zachariah found that ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) with a take-home device is both effective and cost-effective—especially when done from the get-go. …