AAP Pediatric Hypertension Guidelines
Diagnoses hypertension in pediatric patients; official guideline of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Use in children aged 1-17 years. Not for use in patients with low blood pressure. Recommendations are based on AAP's 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline (Table 3). Note that cutoffs reported in the calculator may vary slightly from the published tables, as the calculator accommodates for ages between whole numbers (e.g. 5.5 years), and the tables use simplified values to account for ages between whole numbers. For children ≥13 years of age, this calculator has been adjusted to meet definitions presented in the 2017 AHA/ACC hypertension guidelines for adults.
- Screening for hypertension is recommended in children beginning at age 3 years.
- There are many etiologies for falsely elevated BP, such as anxiety or caffeine intake, and therefore the diagnosis of hypertension is made by checking multiple measurements over time.
- Hypertension is diagnosed if a child has auscultatory-confirmed BP readings ≥95th percentile on 3 different visits.
AAP recommendations for management (from Flynn 2017):
Normal BP
- No additional action is needed.
- BP should be rechecked at the next routine well-child care visit.
Elevated BP
- Lifestyle interventions (nutrition, sleep, physical activity) should be initiated.
- BP should be rechecked by auscultatory measurement in 6 months.
- If it remains elevated at 6 months, upper and lower extremity BP should be checked and lifestyle measures should be repeated.
- If BP is still elevated after 12 months from initial measurement, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) should be ordered along with diagnostic evaluation, and subspecialty referral should be considered.
Stage 1 hypertension
- If asymptomatic, lifestyle interventions should be initiated.
- BP should be rechecked by auscultatory measurement in 1-2 weeks.
- If it remains classified as Stage 1 HTN at 1-2 weeks, upper and lower extremity BP should be checked, and BP should be checked in 3 months by auscultation with consideration for nutrition/weight management referral.
- If BP continues to be classified as Stage 1 HTN after 3 visits, ABPM should be ordered along with diagnostic evaluation, and treatment should be initiated with consideration for subspecialty referral.
Stage 2 hypertension
- If asymptomatic, lifestyle interventions should be initiated.
- BP should be rechecked by auscultatory measurement in 1 week OR the patient can be directly referred to a subspecialist within 1 week.
- If it remains classified as Stage 2 HTN at 1 week, ABPM should be ordered along with diagnostic evaluation, and treatment should be initiated OR the patient should be referred to subspecialty care within 1 week.
Additional note: any patient with evidence of LVH may not participate in sports until BP is normalized with therapy. Athletes with Stage 2 HTN (even without evidence of target organ injury) should not participate in sports until HTN is controlled by lifestyle modification or pharmacologic therapy.
If the patient is symptomatic (encephalopathy, acute kidney injury, congestive heart failure) with Stage 2 HTN level, OR the BP is >30 mmHg above the 95th percentile (or >180/120 mmHg in an adolescent), refer to emergency department immediately for evaluation and treatment of acute severe HTN.