Peculiarities of Hypertension in Youths - A Brief Overview

Abstract

The data obtained from research proves that a growing number of children and adolescents develop hypertension frequently, a situation that challenges public health worldwide. A growing prevalence of hypertension in children and adolescents is likely to induce a growing prevalence of hypertension in young adults. Therefore, precisely defined protocols and software tools should aid primary health protection to overcome the difficulty in screening, identification and confirmation of high blood pressure conditions in youths. A specific approach to detecting hypertension in youths is monitoring blood pressure values during various cardiac stress tests which reveal the cases of the so-called "masked hypertension". Youths who suffer from high blood pressure should change their lifestyle, which includes: losing weight, regular physical activity, a well-balanced diet and reducing stress. In case of prior lack of physical activity, children and adolescents in question should begin with some easy and short physical exercises and gradually increase their frequency, intensity and/or duration over time. Additionally, it is very important to reduce sedentary activities that involve sitting at smartphones, tablets or computers to play video games, text people or use social networks, as well as watching TV. The diagnosis of elevated values of blood pressure in early age should result in efficient nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments as valuable secondary prevention of unwanted cardiovascular disorders in later life.