A few days ago the results of a study emerged in which it was concluded that watching four hours of television, in addition to predisposing to overweight or obesity, increased the risk of children suffering from hypertension.
The recommendations have always limited the exposure time in front of the TV in two hours, but it is rarely met. The study found that Children who watched two to four hours of television a day, increased the risk of high blood pressure 2.5 times compared to those who spent less than two hours a day in front of the television. While Children who watch television for more than four hours a day increase the risks 3.3 times.
This is another example of the fact that adult diseases affect children more and more, but there is still no full awareness of this, since even pediatricians do not value the possibility, that is, they generally do not measure blood pressure at children. According to a study by the Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland (USA), published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and conducted over 14,000 American children between the ages of 3 and 18, three out of four cases of childhood hypertension they went unnoticed to doctors, which shows that really it is necessary to routinely convert blood pressure in pediatric practice, in addition to changing the nutritional habits and life in general of the little ones.
There are still many hospitals that do not have special bracelets to take pressure on children and they have underestimated the incidence of this disorder that affects 2-5% of the child population. Just as a child is weighed and measured when he goes to the office, it should be customary to check his blood pressure, just as they do when an adult goes to the doctor.
Something that we should all know is that the values are different from those of adults, for which pediatricians have a table that includes the percentile, age and sex with what to know what the child's blood pressure should have.
Childhood hypertension must be diagnosed and treated the sooner the better, this health problem can end up in something much worse, cardiovascular problems are the ones that cause the highest incidence of death, so as parents, let's do everything in our hands, especially if we know the genetic predisposition, while specialists expand pediatric diagnostic methods, although they should not correspond to the child population, the pace of life is unfortunately changing it.
