Measuring children's blood pressure matters.

In the 1970s, childhood, and particularly the part of childhood before adolescence, was considered a low–cardiovascular risk state. With the exception of specific conditions such as diabetes mellitus type 1, familial hypercholesterolemia, end stage renal disease, and secondary hypertension, assessment of cardiovascular risk in children seemed unnecessary. Childhood risk factor distributions were well below thresholds thought to be associated with risk for cardiovascular disease. Even today, it is not until adolescence that blood pressure classified as prehypertension by adult criteria is at the 90th percentile of the pediatric distribution.1