A 2007 study by Harvard researchers found that doctors fail to diagnose high blood pressure in more than three-quarters of children with the problem.
It can be difficult to spot kids with hypertension. Healthy pressure depends on a child's age, gender and height, so that "normal" is often a moving target.
"To a pediatrician in a busy clinic, there are so many things they are expected to do in a visit, so sometimes, they eyeball it," Brady said.
Many parents believe high blood pressure is an adult problem, and they are often shocked to learn their children have hypertension, Brady said.
Duvall's grandmother, Paula Duvall of Baltimore, had no idea children could struggle with high blood pressure. And when she learned of her grandson's diagnosis, she immediately began fretting about the child she has raised since he was a toddler.
She knows the risks of hypertension; she has the condition, and so does Duvall's grandfather. "That hurt me, because I know what it's like," she said.
Doctors detected Va'Sean Duvall's hypertension when he was admitted to the hospital this year for an asthma attack. Diagnosed with asthma at age 2, he's had attacks so severe he's been to the intensive-care unit more than a dozen times, and he takes numerous medications to keep the asthma controlled.
His lung doctor referred him to Brady after noticing the youth's blood pressure was consistently high. Other tests showed swelling of his heart muscle - an indicator of LVH. Brady put him on adult medicine, one pill a day.
"The high blood pressure medication, to add that on - that's really scary for me," Paula Duvall said. "Kids, they don't like taking medication, and it's hard for him sometimes, since he's been taking medication his whole life."
Va'Sean Duvall has taken the diagnosis in stride. His mind is set on studying math this fall at Coppin State University, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Broadway performer.
"It gets overwhelming sometimes," he said. "Sometimes taking medicine puts people down. But I say, 'Well, what can you do? Without medicine where would we all be?' "
Hypertension in children
* Affects as many as 4 million children in the U.S.
* More frequent and more severe in black families than in whites.
* If untreated, can lead to heart failure and death.
* Risk factors include obesity and having a parent with high blood pressure.
* All children age 3 and older should have annual blood pressure checks. Doctors should evaluate the readings with charts that indicate normal blood pressure by age, gender and height.
Sources: Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital researchers. American Heart Association
