Reliability and validity of ambulatory blood pressure recording in children.
We investigate whether ambulatory BP (aBP) recording in children reflects situational variations and whether aBP depicts the impact of heightened cardiovascular reactivity under mental challenge, and gender on changes in BP. Results of 19 aBP protocols (2 to 7.30 p.m. after school; 30 min intervals) in 86 children, performed during 2 years of follow-up show that repetitive ambulatory blood pressure (aBP) recording reflects the great variability of environmental stimuli in children. Mean aBP is highly correlated with self-reported physical activity. Systolic aBP correlates with cardiovascular changes under mental arithmetic and - to a lesser degree - during bicycle exercise. Ambulatory BP recording is a sensitive method to detect the influence of hyperreactivity and gender on BP development in children at the age of 10-13 yrs.
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012737:Sex Factors