What is Hypertension?
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is when the force or pressure of the blood flowing in your body is too strong. Hypertension is increasingly common in children and adults, occurring in over 2.5 million children and about half of adults. Hypertension can cause short-term and long-term damage to the brain, heart, kidneys and eyes, even during childhood. While most children do not have any symptoms from their hypertension, it can cause life-threatening complications. All patients with hypertension need treatment of some kind, and most need medicine to lower blood pressure to a safe level.
Our hypertension team is dedicated to providing cutting-edge, comprehensive and patient-oriented care to children, adolescents and young adults who have hypertension and other hypertensive conditions. We are the region’s only clinic specializing in the care of patients with hypertension.
Our diverse team of experts include kidney doctors (nephrologists), nurses, nutritionists and social workers who work with patients, families, primary care providers and specialists to provide individualized patient care. As a teaching hospital, we train the next generation of providers on how to best care for patients with hypertension.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the short and long-term health of children, adolescents, and young adults with hypertension and cardiovascular disease across the lifecourse. We use a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, patient-centered approach to caring for and treating our patients with individualized treatment plans.
We emphasize the importance of working together with primary care and other providers to improve the detection, evaluation and management of hypertension.
We incorporate cutting-edge research in the clinic to develop the best practices possible to improve the lives of our patients.
Your Visit to the Hypertension Clinic
- We will review of all of your child’s medical records, including their birth history, medical history, family history and medicines
- We will collect urine and blood tests
- We will arrange images of your child's their heart, kidneys and other organs
- We may arrange an ambulatory blood pressure monitor study
- We will discuss your child’s individual hypertensive condition and their risk of cardiovascular (heart) disease
- You will meet with our nutritionist to discuss what your child likes to eat and what sports or physical activities they like to do
- We will work with you to create an individualized treatment plan that includes lifestyle counseling (eating healthier and being more physically active) and may include medicine to lower blood pressure to a safe level
- We will share details of your child's visit with their referring provider
- Comprehensive lab and imaging tests including kidney function, urine protein, uric acid, cholesterol levels, kidney ultrasounds, and heart ultrasounds (echocardiograms) to fully evaluate for specific causes of hypertension, ongoing organ damage or other medical problems related to hypertension
- Ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) studies that record blood pressures over a full day at home to better understand what your child’s true blood pressure is. ABPM is a unique, comprehensive and cutting-edge test that greatly enhances our ability to care for our patients with hypertension
- Easy-to-understand lifestyle counseling with our nutritionist to help patients and their families get more exercise and eat healthier. Each plan is tailored to the individual patient and their family
- Home/school/office blood pressure measuring plan by working with the patient, family, referring provider and school
- Overweight and obesity
- Kidney diseases and protein in the urine (proteinuria)
- High uric acid (hyperuricemia)
- Low vitamin D (vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency)
- High cholesterol (hyperlipidemia)
- Hypertension-related heart changes (left ventricular hypertrophy)
- Fatty liver (hepatic steatosis)
- Sickle Cell Nephropathy Clinic
- Brenner FIT Clinic
- Neonatal Kidney Follow-Up Clinic
- Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic
- Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic
- Kidney Transplant Clinic
- Hematology/Oncology Clinic
- Cardiology Clinic
- Endocrinology Clinic
- Carotid intima-media thickness
- Pulse wave velocity/augmentation index
- Autonomic function (heart rate variability, baroreflex sensitivity)
