Heart disease is not a major cause of death among children and teenagers, but it is the largest cause of death among adults in the United States. In fact, someone in America dies every 37 seconds from some form of cardiovascular disease.

Thanks to many studies and thousands of patients, researchers have found certain factors that play an important role in a person’s chances of developing heart disease. These are called risk factors. Some risk factors can be changed, treated, or modified, and some cannot.

Most of the risk factors that affect children can be controlled early in life, lowering the risk of heart disease later in life. Other risk factors are usually passed down through family members (they are hereditary) or they are the result of another illness or disease. These risk factors usually can be controlled. Congenital heart disease (heart defects you are born with) cannot be changed, but better tests and treatments are now available for children with these types of heart problems.

Children and teens can lower their risk of getting heart disease by changing or controlling the risk factors that can lead to heart disease later in life.

Children and teens can lower their risk of getting heart disease by changing or controlling the risk factors that can lead to heart disease later in life.

  High blood pressure
  High cholesterol
  Smoking
  Obesity
  Physical inactivity

Again, some of these risk factors can be changed, treated, or modified, and some cannot. But it is important to understand that prevention is the best way to avoid a heart problem later in life. Controlling as many risk factors as possible, starting in childhood, will help reduce your child’s risk of developing heart disease as an adult.

High Blood Pressure

Fewer than 3% of children in the United States have high blood pressure. But high blood pressure is a serious condition in childhood, especially if it is not detected. It is wise to make sure that your child’s blood pressure is checked at his or her yearly check-up.

What is high blood pressure?

The heart pumps blood through a network of arteries, veins, and capillaries. The moving blood pushes against the walls of the arteries, and this force is measured as blood pressure.

High blood pressure results from the tightening of very small arteries called arterioles. Arterioles regulate the blood flow through the body. As these arterioles tighten (or constrict), the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the smaller space, and the pressure inside the vessels grows.

What causes high blood pressure in children?

High blood pressure (hypertension) in children is not a congenital heart disease, but it can have a hereditary link. For that reason, children born into families with a history of high blood pressure need to have their blood pressure watched with special care.

Most cases of high blood pressure in children are usually the result of another disease, like heart or kidney disease. This is called secondary hypertension. Less often, children have what is called primary (or essential) hypertension. This means that the real cause of the high blood pressure is not known.