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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Ian Sample Science editor

Call for routine high blood pressure testing of UK children as cases almost double

Teenage boy boy looks at orange mobile phone screen.
Doctors are increasingly seeing cases of high blood pressure in teenagers linked to lack of exercise. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Leading doctors have called for a national UK programme to monitor schoolchildren for high blood pressure amid concerns that rising rates in adolescents will increase cases of organ damage, strokes and heart attacks.

Rates of high blood pressure have nearly doubled among children in the past 20 years, but no routine testing is performed in the UK, leaving doctors in the dark about the extent of the problem and which children need most help.

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