Hospitalizing Kids for Hypertension: Stop the Trend Now!

Fat kids are more likely to be hypertensive. Fat parents have fat kids. That there is even a "trend," is an embarrassment.

This article highlights an analysis of trends in pediatric hypertension-related hospitalizations (HRHs) from 1997 to 2006 using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database, a comprehensive dataset that is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and represents all payers in the United States. The data cohorts hospitalized in 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006 were searched for all discharges for which hypertension was designated as a primary or secondary diagnosis. Factors associated with the odds of this diagnosis were assessed using logistic regression from a candidate group of variables (age, race, sex, insurance status, median income, hospital teaching status, hospital region, and survey year).

Nutritional child abuse strikes again.