hypertension check at age 3

Citing the nation's rise in obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging pediatricians to routinely check children as young as 3 for high blood pressure.

As a practical matter, many doctors already begin checking blood pressure at about that age. But the recommendations, which appear as a supplement to the August issue of the journal Pediatrics, re-emphasize the importance of doing so.

And, updating guidelines last issued in 1996, the recommendations give detailed advice about the best way to measure blood pressure in children and redefine the readings that require medical attention, said Bonita Falkner of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, chairwoman of the group of doctors who developed the report.

Under the new guidelines, children once classified as high normal, that is, those whose readings were between the 90th and 95th percentile, are now considered prehypertensive. When the high blood pressure is related to excess weight, the report advises, families should be strongly encouraged to change their children's diet and have them become more active.

- The New York Times

Deep-fried fish is less healthful

Baked, broiled or deep-fried - how you take your fish might affect how well your heart performs.

Seniors who ate tuna or other broiled or baked fish from one to four times a week had a 28 percent lower risk of developing an irregular heartbeat than those who ate fish less than once a month, according to a recent study.

''We do need to eat fish regularly,'' said Ka He, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. ''. . . but also we should pay attention to the cooking process or types of fish.''

Atrial fibrillation is a heart problem in which the two upper chambers twitch instead of beating properly. This can cause blood to collect in the heart, sometimes leading to blood clots and strokes. The condition affects about 2.2 million Americans.

People who ate healthfully prepared fish five or more times a week lowered their risk of developing atrial fibrillation by about one-third. Eating fried fish or fish sandwiches did not reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation, the study found.

Beginning in 1989, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, the University of Washington and Wake Forest University studied the eating habits of 4,815 people older than 65. Over 12 years, 980 of the participants were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

The study was published last month in the online version of the journal Circulation.

- Los Angeles Times