Hypertension in young children and neonates.

Hypertension is most often considered a disease of old age, but the precursors are often present in young children long before the clinically accepted definitions of hypertension in the adult are manifested. Essential hypertension is by far the most common form of the disease, comprising a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Many individual genes that play a role in the maintenance of blood pressure have been identified; however, none has been shown specifically to be a component of essential hypertension. Hypertension is among the leading risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke, and end-stage renal disease, making it critically important to identify individuals at risk early in life prior to manifestation of clinical signs and symptoms.