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Epidemiology of Childhood Onset Essential Hypertension

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 32, pages 808–813 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The knowledge of epidemiology of a disease is paramount in identifying preventive measures. Currently there is a paucity of literature on the epidemiologic determinants of childhood onset essential hypertension (EH). We evaluated children with EH, ascertained in a rigorous manner, in a large multiethnic population in a tertiary pediatric hypertension clinic. We enrolled children with and without EH and obtained data by in-person interview of their parents and by direct anthropometric measurements including blood pressures. A total of 148 children (76 hypertension probands, 72 control probands, and males 53%, mean age 12.2 ± 4.3 years) were enrolled. Of these 148 children, 51 pairs were matched 1:1 on ethnicity, gender and age (±2.5 years). In this study we evaluated the demographics, genetic predisposition and a variety of exposures including, socioeconomic, perinatal, lifestyle and environmental, between cases and controls. All measures were similar between cases and controls other than a significantly higher BMI (p = 0.01) and rates of obesity (p = 0.03), and a difference of near-significance in any family history of EH (p = 0.05) higher in cases compared to controls. The odds of obesity was 3.5 times higher among cases than controls. In this study, we evaluated a variety of prenatal and postnatal exposures that could potentially contributed to the EH phenotype in childhood. The findings of the study elucidate the epidemiology of EH in children and two important associated risk factors, any family history of hypertension and a higher body weight.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Sanjay Shete, Dr. Michelle S. Barratt, Dr. Dianna Milewicz, Dr. Jon Tyson, Dr. Eric Boerwinkle and Dr. Jacqueline Hecht for mentorship of MG-M during her career development award by the National Institutes of Health. We would also like to thank the families who agreed to participate in this study.

Funding:

The project described was supported by Grant Number K23HL089391 for “Determination of genetics of childhood onset hypertension” (PI Monesha Gupta) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Monesha Gupta-Malhotra

  2. Department of Biostatistics, MD Anderson Cancer Center, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Sanjay Shete

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Michelle S. Barratt & Syed Shahrukh Hashmi

  4. Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Internal Medicine, Memorial Hermann Hospital, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Dianna Milewicz

Authors
  1. Monesha Gupta-Malhotra
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  2. Sanjay Shete
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  3. Michelle S. Barratt
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  4. Dianna Milewicz
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  5. Syed Shahrukh Hashmi
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Correspondence to Monesha Gupta-Malhotra.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Gupta-Malhotra, M., Shete, S., Barratt, M.S. et al. Epidemiology of Childhood Onset Essential Hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 32, 808–813 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-018-0110-x

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