To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Blood Pressure Monitoring Suggested for Low-Birth-Weight Children URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22AC7A.htm Doctor's Guide September 4, 2008
DALLAS -- September 4, 2008 -- A new study suggests blood pressure monitoring in low-birth-weight children aged younger than 3 years. The findings appear in the September issue of Pediatrics. "Measuring and validating blood pressure in this population really has not been addressed," said coauthor Charles Rosenfeld, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. "This is unfortunate because the earlier that hypertension is identified, the sooner appropriate medications and lifestyle changes can be introduced to stop the development of dangerous complications." For the study, 2 groups of children aged 1 to 3 years had their blood pressure taken. The first group consisted of 28 children from the at-risk children's clinic at Children's Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Some children from the first group were born preterm with low birth weights, while others were born at full-term. Each child's blood pressure was taken twice randomly by 2 different trained raters who used a manual method similar to the one used to develop reference blood pressures for children. The researchers found that infants who were calm for at least 1 of the measurements had significantly lower blood pressures than those who were fussy or crying, or both. "This is an important factor to consider if you're going to achieve accurate blood pressure measurements in this population," said Dr. Rosenfeld. "It's something professionals who are taking blood pressure should consider when recording results." Another preliminary finding in this group was that, when comparing children with similar mental states, premature low-birth-weight infants had higher blood pressures than infants who had been born at full-term. In the second group, 120 very-low-birth-weight infants were observed at the low-birth-weight follow-up clinic at the Children's Medical Center. Again, blood pressure was measured twice, but this time 5 minutes apart by the same rater. As in the first group, infants who were not calm had significantly higher blood pressure than those who were tranquil. The researchers also noted that although automated devices are now commonly used to measure blood pressure in paediatric outpatient settings, the devices might not be comparable to manual reference standards and tend to overstate systolic blood pressure. Senior Author Roy Heyne, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said newer models have not been tested extensively and require calibration. Children might also become irritated while having their blood pressure measured by such a device, which may skew the results. "Although we know anxiety elevates blood pressure measurements, the extent of this elevation in young children is unclear," said Dr. Heyne. "If health providers record abnormal automated measurements, they should confirm the results with manual methods." SOURCE: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.