Ambulatory blood pressure in children followed for 3 years. Influence of sex and family history of hypertension.
In 100 children (63 boys and 37 girls) aged 11.3 +/- 0.6 years ambulatory blood pressure (BP) was recorded by a semi-automatic device (Remler) 9 times per year over a period of 3 years. A sex difference in systolic BP was noted from the age of 13 years on with boys having higher values by about 6 mmHg (p less than .05). This could not be explained by differences in weight. In boys parental hypertension was associated with higher systolic values independent on age (p less than .05). Genetic and hormonal factors seem to influence BP during male puberty independently from each other.
D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011627:Puberty; D012737:Sex Factors