Hypertension is a potent independent risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, renal failure, and mortality in adults. Although most of these adverse outcomes occur in adulthood, it has become clear that hypertension is a life course problem that can become evident in childhood and can be progressive throughout childhood into adolescence and adulthood.It has also become clear that elevated blood pressure in childhood is associated with early markers of cardiovascular abnormalities, including left ventricular hypertrophy and atherosclerosis. For these reasons, there has been an increasing focus on the identification and treatment of children and adolescents with hypertension and the prevention of the occurrence of hypertension in the first place.
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