More children and adolescents are considered to have hypertension under new guidelines
Released: 2023-04-19
It is important to monitor the prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) among Canadian children and adolescents due to increased risk of developing related health problems. Prevalence of hypertension estimates have been based on clinical guidelines and serve to quantify and track the potential burden of this health condition. But what if there are changes in clinical guidelines? To date, estimates of hypertension among children and youth at the Canadian population-level have been based on clinical guidelines produced in 2004 by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP 2004). However, updated guidelines were published in 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP 2017) and in 2020 by Hypertension Canada (HC 2020).
A new study titled "The impact of updated clinical blood pressure guidelines on hypertension prevalence among children and adolescents," released today in Health Reports, compares blood pressure categories and the prevalence of hypertension among children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years by sex and age group under these three sets of guidelines.
The results showed that the prevalence of Stage 1 hypertension among children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years was higher with the AAP 2017 and HC 2020 guidelines compared with the NHBPEP 2004 guidelines. Overall hypertension prevalence (Stage 1 and Stage 2 combined) for children and adolescents was higher under both AAP 2017 and HC 2020 guidelines, with nearly 1 in 25 people being considered hypertensive, compared with under NHBPEP 2004 guidelines, with 1 in 40 people. Further, obesity was a major factor associated with being reclassified into a higher blood pressure category.
These findings suggest that implementing AAP 2017 and HC 2020 is associated with significant changes in the national picture of childhood hypertension in Canada. Understanding this impact may help inform population surveillance efforts to track hypertension prevalence among Canada's children and adolescents.
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The article "The impact of updated clinical blood pressure guidelines on hypertension prevalence among children and adolescents" is now available in the April 2023 online issue of Health Reports, Vol. 34, No. 4 (82-003-X).
This issue of Health Reports also contains the article "Characterizing polysubstance use: What do we know about use of cigarettes, vaping products, cannabis, and alcohol among Canadians?"
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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