Australian Paediatric Hypertension Guideline

The Australian Paediatric Hypertension Guideline has been published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, providing frontline clinicians with practical guidance on identifying and managing high blood pressure in children and adolescents.

The guideline recommends that children have their blood pressure checked at 7–8 years of age and again in early adolescence.

High blood pressure is not just a health issue for adults. An estimated 20,000–40,000 Australian children have stage 2 hypertension with most cases currently undetected. Among children with confirmed stage 2 hypertension who have been appropriately assessed, around one in three already show thickening of the heart muscle.

The new guidelines highlight the importance of early prevention and management. For most children with high blood pressure, treatment does not involve medication but focuses instead on healthy lifestyle changes, including diet, salt intake and physical activity, alongside longer-term attention to cardiovascular, metabolic and kidney health.

The guidelines acknowledges obesity as the biggest but not the only driver of rising blood pressure in children. Other risk factors include prematurity, growth restriction, high salt intake and insufficient physical activity. These risk factors can cluster with socioeconomic disadvantage, where children may also be less likely to have high blood pressure detected.

These are the first Australian guidelines for paediatric hypertension, produced by BPOzKids and Hypertension Australia and endorsed by the Heart Foundation and other organisations. They provide clinicians with an actionable starting point for identifying and managing high blood pressure in children.

The guideline and associated paediatric resources are available at www.hypertension.org.au/children.