A survey of 164 Finnish children and adolescents with hypertension.

A retrospective analysis was performed on 164 children and adolescents with persistent hypertension. Among the unselected 115 patients with hypertension seen within the last three years 47 (41%) exhibited renal disease, 37 (32%) coarctation of the aorta, 10 (9%) miscellaneous associated causes and 21 (18%) no associated cause (essential hypertension). A substantial number, 53/164, had a primary disease potentially curable by surgery, and in 37 patients the blood pressure was normalized postoperatively. The outcome depended mostly on the basic disease and the availability of chronic hemodialysis. 11/164 children have died, all because of terminal basic disease, and one with simultaneous hypertensive crisis. We thus recommend a thorough investigation in the case of a child with persistent hypertension.