What is the normal blood pressure for a 6 year old child?

Hello Sandra hernandez,

While the average blood pressure for adults, which should be 120/80 or below, the average blood pressure for children varies with age.

For example, the average BP for a 3 year old ranges from 86-95/44-48 while the average for a 16 year old - 111-120/63-67 is much closer to that of an adult.

For your 6 year old, the 50th percentile of BP is 93-100/53-57.

Renal artery stenosis in a young child is commonly caused by fibromuscular dysplasia. This is a genetic condition which causes aberrant growth of the muscle layer of artery walls.  When it occurs in the kidney, the overgrowth reduces the blood pressure the kidney "sees", which causes the kidney to secrete chemicals to increase the blood pressure throughout the body, even though in the rest of the body the blood pressure is normal.  The result is a higher than normal blood pressure, as you have seen with your child.  Medicines and occationally surgery can help control blood pressure elevations in people with renal artery stenosis.

To you and your child's health,

Neil MD