Teen Boys: Their Blood Pressure Now, and Down the Road
by KYW medical editor Dr. Brian McDonough
Scientists are now beginning to look at adolescents and monitoring their health as teenagers as a way to predict their overall health as adults.
According to a new report in the Journal of the American Heart Association teenage boys who have seemly normal blood pressure could be three to four times more likely to have hight blood pressure when their adults than girls of the same age.
What I am talking about is the top number - the systolic number.
For years we a systolic blood pressure of 110 in a teenage boy was considered normal now we realize that's a bit elevated.
It could be a sign of pre-hypertension and a sign of problems to follow.
What it really says is we as physicians need to check teenagers for their blood pressure to monitor it and to use it as a judgement for future intervention.
