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The paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association studied over 14,000 children and adolescents in the US aged three to 18 years.

The researchers found that 507 (2.7 per cent) children met the criteria for hypertension and of these only 131 (26 per cent) had been diagnosed as such previously. A total of 485 (3.4 per cent) children met the criteria for prehypertension, 55 (11 per cent) of whom had had high blood pressure recorded in their records.

Obese children were less likely to remain undiagnosed

The research team warn that 'If abnormal blood pressure is not identified by a patient's pediatric clinician, it may be years before the abnormal blood pressure is detected, leading to end-organ damage.'

Underdiagnosis of Hypertension in Children and Adolescents JAMA 2007; 298: 874-879.

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