Candesartan Cilexetil in Children and Adolescents Aged 1 to <17 Years with Hypertension

Excerpt

In pediatric patients, normal blood pressure (BP) is a function of age, sex, and height percentile; thus, diagnosing hypertension in children and adolescents requires reference to a population distribution.[2] According to the Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents[3] and the European Society of Hypertension guidelines,[4] hypertension in pediatric patients is defined as systolic BP (SBP) and/or diastolic BP (DBP) persistently exceeding the 95th percentile.[3,4] It may manifest secondary to another disease process, such as coarctation of the aorta, endocrine disease, or renal disease, with the likelihood of there being an underlying disease inversely related to age and directly related to the degree of BP elevation.[2,4] Hypertension may also manifest without identifiable cause (essential hypertension).[2] Although, as in adults, essential hypertension is more prevalent than secondary hypertension in pediatric patients, it is rarely observed in infants and young children; the prevalence of essential hypertension is significantly elevated in adolescence and often associated with excess weight and a family history of hypertension or cardiovascular disease.[2,3] …