Despite Cholesterol Drop, Many Kids Still Have High Blood Pressure

BY KATHRYN DOYLE
Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:50pm EST

(Reuters Health) – Although pediatric high cholesterol levels in the U.S. have gone down since 1999, about one in 10 kids still has high blood pressure, according to a new study.

By 2012, approximately 20 percent of U.S. kids ages 8 to 17 had unhealthy cholesterol levels, and 10 percent had hypertension or borderline hypertension.

Rosner also cautioned that the demographics of the NHANES survey sample may have changed over time, which might explain some of the shifts in rates of adverse cholesterol or blood pressure.

The National Institutes of Health have issued guidance for pediatricians to help kids with high cholesterol or high blood pressure improve their diets or physical activity or for prescribing medications for them, Kit said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/1ErtzO3 JAMA Pediatrics, online January 19, 2015.

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