News - Hypertension Week of May 4, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 18

Study: Hypertension in Children May Be Genetic

Children who develop hypertension may do so because of their genes, according to a study presented May 4 at the 2003 Pediatric Societies annual meeting in Seattle.

Because of the rapid rise in the number of children with hypertension, researchers at Columbus Children's Research Institute in Ohio sought to determine the cause.

The researchers found a genetic link between primary and secondary hypertension, but noted that these two types of hypertension appear to be fundamentally different since they do not share the involvement of the same number of genes.

The study found that 49 percent of children with primary hypertension had parents with primary hypertension, while 24 percent of children with secondary hypertension had parents with primary hypertension.

Of children with primary hypertension, 10 percent had parents with secondary hypertension, and 46 percent of children with secondary hypertension had parents with secondary hypertension.

"A large number of genes appear to be involved in children with primary hypertension, but we could not eliminate the role of environmental and dietary factors," said John R. Hayes, senior research consulting statistician for the institute.

Hayes said the next step is to have molecular geneticists determine which specific genes, and how many, cause the different types of hypertension.

Primary hypertension has no apparent cause, but investigators have explored the contributions of environment, diet and genetics in adults. Children develop secondary hypertension due to another disease such as kidney impairment.

The researchers said that identifying children at risk for developing primary hypertension and intervening at an earlier age would help prevent organ damage.

Other sources: Columbus Children's Hospital