Undiagnosed prehypertension/hypertension in Canadian adolescents: The critical role of the public health nurse

Abstract

Increased blood pressure (BP), classified as either prehypertension or hypertension, is a measurable increase in the force of circulating blood within the vessels of the heart (American Heart Association, 2020). High BP can predispose individuals to serious health complications, such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and diabetes (American Heart Association, 2020). Furthermore, complications resulting from prehypertension/hypertension in the adolescent population have commonly been associated with increased risk for future cardiovascular disease (Assadi, 2014; Mehta et al., 2016). Although complications related to child and adolescent prehypertension/hypertension are not typically critical, physiological changes, such as left ventricular hypertrophy, changes to retinal and carotid vessels, and target organ damage, have been discovered in adolescents with prehypertension/hypertension (Badeli et al., 2016; Falkner, 2015).