Childhood hypertension is an important global public health issue, but prevalence estimates remain inconsistent. To date, no meta-analysis has synthesised global prevalence using both in-office blood pressure measurements and combined in-office and out-of-office assessments. We aimed to provide updated global prevalence estimates of childhood hypertension using both diagnostic approaches.

Most evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected adolescent mental health relies on non-probability samples, which can yield unreliable estimates. This study aimed to compare emotional distress among individuals aged 15 years in 2018 and 2022 using nationally representative data, and to examine how sociodemographic correlates of distress differed between these periods.

Child growth failure (CGF), which includes underweight, wasting, and stunting, is among the factors most strongly associated with mortality and morbidity in children younger than 5 years worldwide. Poor height and bodyweight gain arise from a variety of biological and sociodemographic factors and are associated with increased vulnerability to infectious diseases. We used data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 to estimate CGF prevalence, the risk of infectious diseases associated with CGF, and the disease mortality, morbidity, and overall burden associated with CGF.

Each year, one billion children globally experience violence, which carries lifelong detrimental effects. In 2016, WHO and partners launched the INSPIRE Framework: seven strategies to end violence against children. A decade after INSPIRE's development, this systematic review updates its evidence base and assesses which interventions could be prioritised for implementation. This systematic review of systematic reviews searched 152 information sources from Jan 1, 2010, to May 15, 2023, to identify systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness of policies or interventions in addressing violence against children. Reviews were narratively synthesised and interventions were ranked using a decision matrix based on the amount and quality of evidence and the consistency of effectiveness. From 22 117 initial articles screened, 216 unique systematic reviews were included, of which 149 focused on interventions that do not have WHO implementation guidelines. Of these 149 reviews, 47 (32%) were assessed to be high or moderate confidence using the AMSTAR2 tool. Across outcome domains and countries, the strongest evidence of effectiveness includes parenting programmes for reducing child maltreatment, safe and enabling school environments (whole-school approaches) for preventing youth violence, healthy romantic relationships education for reducing adolescent intimate partner violence, cash-plus life-skills training among adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries for reducing youth violence (including sexual violence), and cognitive behavioural therapy for children exposed to violence. Parenting programmes might also reduce maternal intimate partner violence, although few studies have directly examined this outcome. Scaling up these evidence-based approaches is essential to ending violence against children. This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023427487).

In the field of paediatrics, the concept of normal (ie, typical)-in contrast to different, special, deviant, delayed, or atypical-has imposed a problematic framework within which people view a child with an impairment. This binary perspective oversimplifies a complex, fluid, and dynamic process encompassing physical, behavioural, emotional, cognitive, social, and communicative development. Furthermore, this approach reinforces the notion of a singular normality, diminishing the value of any variation from this assumed (and usually poorly defined and naive) standard, in a way that speaks of ableism-the normative bias that a standard norm exists and anything other than this standard is inferior. Ableism profoundly affects systems, whether they be clinical or medical, educational, or community-based or research-based. The aims of this Personal View are to (1) examine the evolution of disability definitions; (2) challenge the construct of normal in child health; and (3) review identified types of disability. This Personal View explores the literature on ableism in paediatrics from a global perspective, assessing its effect on children, their parents and families, and on the broader community. We offer a modern perspective on disability, embracing the resilience and adaptations that often emerge, while acknowledging challenges. We aim to provide paediatric learners and health-care professionals with opportunities to improve paediatric care through an inclusionary, strengths-based approach to disability that values diverse developmental pathways and challenges rigid normative expectations.

Efforts to promote adolescent wellbeing are of increasing global interest. Although the ability to measure wellbeing is essential for identifying disparities between and within populations, and for tracking progress in improving wellbeing, the best way to measure this elusive concept in adolescents is unclear. We undertook a scoping review of quantitative measures of subjective wellbeing to identify those used in population studies of adolescents (aged 10-24 years), and mapped the identified measures against an adolescent wellbeing framework developed by the UN H6+ Technical Working Group on Adolescent Health and Well-Being. We also reviewed global surveys of adolescents to identify how wellbeing was measured, and synthesised available data to show the utility of these measures. Our review identified 52 unique measures that had been used with adolescents, of which 19 had been designed or adapted specifically for adolescents. The identified measures aligned reasonably well with the five domains of the UN framework, except for the domain of safety and a supportive environment. KIDSCREEN-52 was the most comprehensive of the identified measures. The single-item Cantril Ladder of life satisfaction has been widely used in multicountry population surveys, and available data showed wide variation by age, gender, and location. In summary, this Review shows that many measures have been used to measure wellbeing in adolescents, although fewer were specifically designed or adapted to use with adolescents. These findings support scalable efforts to quantify wellbeing, which is an important foundation of investments to enhance adolescent wellbeing.

Body image concerns among adolescent boys and young men are increasingly recognised as societal ideals shift towards a lean, muscular physique. In severe cases, these pressures can lead to muscle dysmorphia, a specifier of body dysmorphic disorder marked by preoccupation with being too small or insufficiently muscular. Adolescents and young adults are developmentally vulnerable and might be at higher risk for a variety of eating-related and body image-related concerns, including muscle dysmorphia. This narrative Review synthesises current evidence on the epidemiology, assessment, and treatment of muscle dysmorphia in adolescents and young adults to guide clinicians. Although some treatment approaches show promise, outcome data in large, diverse, clinical adolescent samples remain scarce. Muscle dysmorphia-specific preventive strategies are few, although eating disorder prevention programmes show potential for reducing muscle dysmorphia symptoms. Future research should investigate pharmacotherapy and prevention programmes, validate assessment tools across populations, and examine cultural influences internationally. Advancing understanding of muscle dysmorphia will better equip clinicians to identify and address symptoms in adolescents and young adults.

Cardiovascular disease is an important cause of morbidity and the leading cause of death in children with chronic kidney disease. Cardiovascular disease often begins in early chronic kidney disease, progresses rapidly on dialysis, and might only partly attenuate after successful kidney transplantation. Importantly, many cardiovascular disease risk factors are modifiable when detected early and treated appropriately. Despite advances in treatments and dialysis technology, cardiovascular disease continues to cause substantial morbidity and reduced quality of life. Here we present clinical practice points on the assessment, prevention, and management of cardiovascular disease in children with chronic kidney disease, on dialysis, and after transplantation based on the best available evidence and consensus of experts from the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology. Where high-level evidence is lacking, clearly labelled expert opinion is provided and should be adapted to individual patient needs. These guidance points support timely identification and intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk in the paediatric population with chronic kidney disease.