An Ohio-based pediatrician has engineered a novel approach to diagnosing hypertension in children, according to a study in Pediatrics (June 2009).

Research has shown that close to 75% of cases of hypertension, and 90% of cases of prehypertension in children and adolescents, are not diagnosed. Based on these findings, David Kaelber, MD, PhD, MPH, of Cleveland MetroHealth Hospitals and his team of researchers attributed the under-diagnosis to the complicated chart currently used to detect high blood pressure in young ones.

Based on that knowledge, Kaelber and colleagues made the chart more user-friendly by only using a child's age and gender in helping to diagnose, instead of also incorporating height percentiles. Researchers reduced the systolic and diastolic blood pressure cutoff values to one value each for girls and for boys for each year, from ages 3 to 18 and older.

Regarding height, researchers placed the lower height limit (5th percentile) in the abnormal blood pressure range for either gender at any age. Readings that are at or above the listed numbers in the chart will help determine which child needs further evaluation by a physician.

The amended chart and explanation are published in Pediatrics.