[Role of pediatricians in the prevention of adult hypertension].

Physiopathological events that cause cardiovascular disease in adults, start at early stages of life, even before birth. Thus, their prevention should start at childhood. High blood pressure is an important cardiovascular risk factor and pediatricians should not only detect those children whose blood pressure is above normal values for age and sex but also take special care of normotensive children with risk factors for hypertension. Active and passive preventive measures should be applied to modify factors such as obesity, high salt intake, potassium and calcium intake, birth and placental weight disparity and sedentariness. Pediatricians should be mainstay in the implementation of these preventive strategies.