RESUMEN
One-hundred-fourteen hypertensive high school students were evaluated to determine whether a distinctive clinical profile could be identified; 71 normotensive students served as controls. Selected blood chemistry determinations, urinalysis, and chest roentgenograms were done to help rule out secondary causes of hypertension. Left ventricular function was assessed by echocardiography and systolic time intervals. The hemodynamic response to exercise was also evaluated. A significant number of the subjects 14 to 18 years of age with persistent systolic and/or diastolic pressure 1.65 SD above the mean for age and sex showed the following: obesity; elevated serum triglyceride concentration; basilar hypertrophy by electrocardiogram/vectorcardiogram; electromechanical systole and pre-ejection period shorter, and the ratio of the pre-ejection period over the left ventricular ejection time lower, than mean for age and sex as determined by systolic time intervals; volume indices depressed and cardiac contractile functions elevated as determined by echocardiography; higher blood pressure at start of exercise stress test and higher peak systolic and diastolic pressures during test, and a slower return of heart rate to base line level after the test. The above findings should be useful in following the course of a young individual with essential hypertension and may provide a means of evaluating therapeutic intervention.