Fat Boys, Beware

For years pediatricians didn't worry much about treating hypertension in their patients. After all, kids grow so fast, it's hard keeping up with their shoe size, let alone their blood pressure. Sure, hypertension in adults places them at greater risk of heart attack and stroke. But nobody likes the idea of starting youngsters on blood-pressure medicine they could wind up taking the rest of their lives. Who knows what previously unheard-of side effects could crop up after five or six decades of daily use? The rationale has been: kids grow out of so many things, maybe they'll grow out of this...