Pediatric hypertension: clinical profile and etiology.

Thirty six symptomatic hospitalized hypertensive children were evaluated for clinical profile and etiology. They were divided into two groups of 23 and 13 patients, respectively of chronic persistent hypertension and acute transient hypertension. Headache, failure to thrive, dyspnea and edema were common clinical features. Renal parenchymal pathology was the commonest etiology in both groups with a tubulo-interstitial pathology being more common amongst chronic hypertensives and acute glomerulonephritis in acute transient hypertensives. Essential hypertension was uncommon, found in only two patients with chronic hypertension reflecting probably an asymptomatic status of most patients with essential hypertension.