Survey of The Causes of Hypertension in Children Admitted to The Shoaada Hospital

Measuring blood pressure in children is of great value and the majority of physicians are not concern about that.This study was performed to clarify the causes of hypertension and the importance of its measurment in children. This study was reterospective and data was collected from the files of the patients referred to Shoaada hospital during 1998-2000. Hypertension diagnosis was based on standard definition of the disease. Among 137 recorded patients thirty-seven (27%) were heypertensive. Between hypertensive children twenty-eight (75.8%) were males and nine (24%) were females. The age range of patients was between 1.½ to 15 years. The age of the majority of patients was between 10-12. The youngest patient was a 1.½ years old boy who had nephrotic syndrom. The oldest one was a 15 years old girl with cushing syndrom. The causes and frequency of hypertension was as the following: renal disorder (67.6%), vascular disorder (19%), essential hypertension (8.8%), endocrine disorder (5.4%). Regarding the serious complications of hypertension and with respect to the result of this study annual measurment of blood pressure in children is suggested.