All children, including infants, can have high blood pressure. In a child, high blood pressure is defined as having a blood pressure that is higher than 90 percent of the children who are of the same sex, age and height as that particular child. Unlike adults there is no specific range for blood pressure values in children, because their blood pressure changes as they grow. High blood pressure in children who are below ten years of age is usually a symptom of a medical condition – it is what is known as secondary hypertension – high blood pressure caused by underlying diseases.

Studies have shown that children with high blood pressure have a lower cognitive ability than children with normal blood pressure. They are not very good at complicated and goal oriented tasks and have more difficulty at planning. They also have more memory problems than non hypertensive children. If they are hypertensive, and also suffer from obesity, they tend to be more prone to anxiety and depression.

This difficulty in cognitive function is attributed to very early symptoms of neurological damage due to high blood pressure. Having high blood pressure during childhood also increases the risk of adult hypertension, which brings its own set of complications