High Blood pressure for a 14 year old?!
Question: I just got my blood pressure checked by the school's nurse and she got a reading of 158/68. I know this is at a Hypertension level but is the Diastolic reading too low and is it normal for my age?
Answers: I just got my blood pressure checked by the school's nurse and she got a reading of 158/68. I know this is at a Hypertension level but is the Diastolic reading too low and is it normal for my age?
There is approximately 3% of the pediatric population (patients under the age of 18) who are eventually diagnosed as essential hypertensives; that is, they are born with it and not because of some other secondary reason (like adrenal tumor, weight, et cetera).
One borderline reading however, should not be considered diagnostic. The high reading could have resulted from a variety of other things, like using a cuff that is too small, to a poorly calibrated machine. I would not place too much stock in it unless you get these readings all the time consistently across several machines over an extended time period with different examiners. The diastolic reading borders on the low side of normal, but that could have been because of the machine used. Falsely low diastolic readings are usually the case with automatic pneumatic blood pressure machines, as none are truly accurate anymore since mercury filled ones have been banned (because mercury is now considered a toxic substance, no new blood pressure machines can use it).
I would discuss this with your pediatrician, who is the best person to monitor your health. If the readings are indeed accurate, and you're one of the unlucky 3% or so of kids born with high blood pressure, the silver lining to this is an early enough diagnosis to allow you to treat the disease and prevent injury to your health; in effect, you can (with careful monitoring) live your life like normal people, by avoiding the silent and often destructive nature of the disease.
Good luck.
Ralph
Yea .
If i were you .i would go to my gp to have it checked