NEW YORK -- 14-year-old Kyle Mutschler has been hospitalized four times because of dangerously high blood pressure. He takes four medications and his mother Lynette keeps track of everything he eats.
"Its definitely a much different lifestyle than the average person lives, you're constantly having to monitor your blood pressure, constantly having to have different foods, constantly having to exercise," say Kyle.
The study released today looked at the number of children like Kyle who had to be hospitalized for high blood pressure.
The increase in cases has also led to a fifty percent rise in treatment cost, to more than $3.1 billion.
Dr. Rick Kaskel of Montefiore Hospital is a pediatric kidney specialist who says that 70% of his new patients have high blood pressure.
"We've all seen it; we've seen it associated with the marked increase in obesity; but not to these numbers and I think the hospitalization rate is what is astounding here," says Dr. Kaskel.
While researchers believe obesity is a major culprit, genetics and environment likely play a role too.
For kids like Kyle, the cause is a mystery, so he monitors the problem with an app on his iPod. The program measures his blood pressure and emails results to his doctor. The concern is for bigger problems down the road.
"The elevated blood pressure early on is having an effect on that patient's organs such that at some point when they become adults the damage is done. It may be irreversible, on the heart, on the kidney, on other vessels, and set them up for major risk for cardiovascular disease as adults," says Dr. Kaskel.
(Information courtesy CBS News)
