Early detection of high blood pressure will improve the health care of children. This is called secondary hypertension. If the disease is successfully treated, blood pressure usually returns to normal. Some medicines can cause high blood pressure, but when they're discontinued, blood pressure usually returns to normal. Now they know this isn't so.
Some children have higher blood pressures than others for unknown reasons.
These children are said to have primary or essential hypertension. Research scientists don't know why some children have higher blood pressure than others. Children who are overweight usually have higher blood pressure. Some children inherit the tendency toward higher blood pressure from one or both parents. High blood pressure is more frequent and more severe in families of African Americans than in whites.