J Pediatr Health Care. 2018 Sep-Oct;32(5):e98-e104. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2018.04.003. Epub 2018 Jul 10.
Elevated blood pressure is becoming increasingly common in the pediatric population. Hypertension costs nearly $51 billion/year, and cardiovascular disease is responsible for 17% of the nation's health care expenditures. Traditionally, time-consuming and complicated interpretation standards result in infrequent pediatric blood pressure screenings. This may lead to the under-diagnosis of pediatric hypertension. Early detection of elevated blood pressure is important in order to prevent hypertension related conditions such as, target organ damage, left ventricular hypertrophy, and cerebrovascular disease. The aim of this study was to observe the prevalence of pediatric hypertension among children and adolescents age 3-18 using the smartphone application Pedia BP®. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify the prevalence of elevated blood pressure in a sample of children and adolescents and (2) evaluate any association between BMI, age, and blood pressure classification.
A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of pediatric hypertension in 81 preschool and school age children. App users were trained with the online take2heart course available at take2heart.com. The manual systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings were entered into the application, along with the patient's gender, age, height, and weight. Pedia BP® instantly calculated the blood pressure classification of the patient based on percentiles. Quantitative data from the Pedia BP® data repository were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
We found that 54.3% of our sample were normotensive, 23.5% had prehypertension, 13.6% had stage 1 hypertension, and 8.6% had stage 2 hypertension. As seen in Figure 3, the majority of subjects with stage 1 (72.7%) and stage 2 hypertension (57.1%) were found in school-age children. We found that 3.7% of children were underweight, 48.1% were at a healthy weight, 21% were overweight, and 27.2% were obese.
Pedia BP® was shown to be an effective screening tool to easily classify blood pressure readings on an individual basis. The prevalence of hypertension in our sample was higher than previously reported in the literature. Annual evaluation of blood pressures in preschool and school age children are warranted to identify and address hypertension. Pedia BP® was shown to be an effective screening tool to easily classify blood pressure readings on an individual basis. Pedia BP® offers benefits not only for patients, but for primary care providers, nurses, economists, insurance companies, hospitals, and clinics. Ultimately, Pedia BP® (1) increases awareness of elevated blood pressures among children and adolescents, (2) engages the health care community to screen for elevated blood pressures, (3) implements innovative technology, and (4) activates the potential for a population-based surveillance tool.
儿童人群中的高血压患病率正在逐渐升高。高血压每年的花费近 510 亿美元，心血管疾病占全国医疗支出的 17%。传统上，耗时且复杂的解释标准导致儿童血压筛查不频繁。这可能导致儿童高血压的漏诊。早期发现血压升高对于预防高血压相关疾病（如靶器官损害、左心室肥厚和脑血管疾病）非常重要。本研究的目的是使用智能手机应用程序 Pedia BP®观察 3-18 岁儿童和青少年中高血压的患病率。本研究的目的是：(1) 确定儿童和青少年中高血压的患病率，(2) 评估 BMI、年龄和血压分类之间的任何关联。
采用定量描述性研究评估 81 名学龄前和学龄期儿童的高血压患病率。应用程序用户接受了可在 take2heart.com 上获得的在线 take2heart 课程的培训。手动测量收缩压和舒张压，并将患者的性别、年龄、身高和体重输入应用程序。根据百分位值，Pedia BP® 立即计算患者的血压分类。使用描述性统计对来自 Pedia BP® 数据存储库的定量数据进行分析。
我们发现，我们的样本中 54.3%为血压正常，23.5%为高血压前期，13.6%为 1 期高血压，8.6%为 2 期高血压。如图 3 所示，大多数 1 期（72.7%）和 2 期高血压（57.1%）患者为学龄儿童。我们发现，3.7%的儿童体重不足，48.1%的儿童体重正常，21%的儿童超重，27.2%的儿童肥胖。
Pedia BP® 被证明是一种有效的筛查工具，可方便地对个体的血压读数进行分类。我们样本中的高血压患病率高于文献报道。需要对学龄前和学龄儿童的血压进行年度评估，以识别和处理高血压。Pedia BP® 被证明是一种有效的筛查工具，可方便地对个体的血压读数进行分类。Pedia BP® 不仅对患者有益，对初级保健提供者、护士、经济学家、保险公司、医院和诊所也有益。最终，Pedia BP®(1)提高了儿童和青少年对高血压的认识，(2)促使医疗保健社区筛查高血压，(3)采用创新技术，(4)激活了基于人群的监测工具的潜力。
