Adolescent Hypertension

Abstract

Two groups of patients were recognized among 27 black and latin adolescents who underwent diagnostic evaluation for hypertension. Group I consisted of ten patients, seven of whom had arterial pressures consistently higher than 1 standard deviation above the pressure means of normal adolescents and three had pressures below this level. Group II consisted of 17 patients, 16 of whom had systolic and diastolic pressures greater than 2 standard deviations above the means for their age-sex group. One patient had solely systolic hypertension. An assignable cause for their hypertension was not apparent. Chemical parameters, including plasma renin activity (radioimmunoassay Angiotensin I), were similar to those observed in adult hypertensive patients of the same community. A difference in response to therapy was noted in adolescents compared to adults which may imply differences in the mechanisms involved at this phase of the disease, as has been reported in patients with labile and early hypertension and spontaneously hypertensive rats. At least three facets of this adolescent hypertension study deserve implementation and investigation: 1) routine blood pressure measurements in high schools, 2) longitudinal evaluation of the indications for and effects of therapy, and 3) intensive inquiry into the hemodynamic and neurohumoral aspects of hyperten- sion in its early unfolding.