|  | Family Health | Childrens Health

Healthy Blood Pressure Levels for Children

A large segment of the public assumes that high blood pressure is a problem reserved for adults. Sadly, according to Dr. Leann M. Lesperance, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, that's a faulty assumption. Roughly 5 percent of all children between the ages of 8 and 10 suffer from this dangerous condition as well. Because of the potential for hypertension in children, it is important to learn what normal blood pressure levels should be and also what the consequences can be if children with hypertension are not treated.

  1. What's Normal?

    • Lesperance, who is also a practicing pediatrician and a clinical assistant professor at SUNY-Upstate Medical University, says that normal blood pressure levels in children are not significantly different than they are in adults. For kids in the age range of 8 to 10, she suggests that a good range of systolic (maximum arterial pressure) levels would be 110 to 120 over diastolic (minimum arterial pressure) readings between 70 and 80. Dr. Alan Greene, a clinical professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, takes a slightly more conservative view, offering these maximum blood pressure readings for children: 107/69 at age 3, 109/69 at age 5, and 117/75 at age 10.

    Optimal Heart Rate

    • As with adults, heart rates in children can vary widely between readings taken at rest and those taken after vigorous exercise, but the normal range in children is somewhere between 50 and 180. Lesperance points out that while normal blood pressure levels in children tend to inch up gradually as they age, their heart rates tend to come down as they get older.

    Don't Panic

    • Don't panic if your child has a single reading that is outside the normal ranges. Occasional spikes in blood pressure can occur at any age. However, if your child's blood pressure is abnormally high on three occasions, separated by days or even weeks, seek advice from your pediatrician.

    Risk Factors

    • The risk factors for high blood pressure in children are similar to those in adults. The two biggest culprits are poor nutrition, leading to overweight and even obesity, and physical inactivity. If your child spends most of the time on the couch eating high-fat, high-sodium snack foods, and watching TV or playing video games, then you just might have a problem in the making. In any case, it would be wise to have your pediatrician check it out.

    Consequences

    • High blood pressure in children generally causes no obvious symptoms, as is often the case in adults with hypertension. However, the fact that there are no symptoms in no way lessens the eventual health consequences of untreated hypertension. If allowed to go unchecked, this condition in children may eventually lead to heart disease, stroke and kidney disease once these children reach adulthood.

Childrens Health - Related Articles