Since it is a tough job to calculate elevated blood pressure level in kids, only a quarter of them are getting diagnosed and treated. Also, many doctors consider hypertension as an adult problem thus leaving the children undiagnosed.
Lead author Dr. David Kaelber of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Harvard Medical School attribute the problem partly to a surge in obesity levels.
The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says untreated high blood in children might contribute to early artery and heart damage.
Untreated hypertension can cause health problems in adults, including heart disease, strokes, artery damage and kidney disease.
According to AP reports, the researchers kept track of health records of 14,187 healthy children aged 3 to 18 who had at least three doctor checkups in northeast Ohio between June 1999 and last September.
Though 507 study children or 3.6 percent had high blood pressure but only 131 of them, or 26 percent, had a documented high blood pressure diagnosis. Similar results are expected to be found in other U.S. children.
Only between 2 to 5 percent of U.S. children and teens are hypertensive, compared with 26 percent of adults. An estimated 1.5 million American children are not aware of this condition.
The American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend measuring blood pressure at every doctor visit, starting at age 3. Younger for children with risk factors such as low birth weight, congenital heart disease and longer than usual postpartum hospital stays should get more early check ups.
