When we think about high blood pressure, hypertension, generally our thoughts don’t drift to children. I was trying to think back through family and friends and remember if I had ever known a child treated for blood pressure and I came up empty.

With obesity in children on an out of control rise, and obesity being a major contributing factor to high blood pressure, there should be no surprise that the incidence of hypertension in children is on the rise.

The concerns from a life insurance standpoint for people with high blood pressure is the long term effects, stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and on and on. Since these are long term effects, the last thing a person needs is to have the problem start in childhood so that it has even more years to work on the body.

This surge in childhood hypertension really seems to be a lifestyle driven change. With children more sedentary than ever and diets being less healthy than ever, obesity has taken a firm grip and is having it’s way in driving epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

Bottom line. High blood pressure at any age can cause problems. If well controlled it’s side effects can be held at bay, but higher than normal blood pressure over a long period of time will cause problems. A surge in high blood pressure in children now will mean a surge in high blood pressure related issues in the future.