Influence of sex on blood pressure and left ventricular mass in adolescents: the Hypertension in Pregnancy Offspring Study.
The aim of the present longitudinal study was to describe determinants of blood pressure (BP) and echocardiographically calculated left ventricular mass in adolescents with a variable risk of future hypertension. BP was measured and M-mode echocardiography was performed in 52 children, 29 male and 23 female, at a mean age of 12.6 +/- 1.5 years. A re-examination was performed after 5.6 years. Thirty-six children were born to mothers who had hypertension during pregnancy whereas 16 children were born after a normotensive pregnancy. During follow-up a difference in body weight (P < 0.01) and height (P < 0.001) developed between male and female subjects. At the same time a difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP) appeared between sexes (P < 0.01). At follow-up there were significant correlations between sex and SBP (r = 0.37, P < 0.01) and left ventricular mass (r = 0.54, P < 0.001). In multivariate analyses sex emerged as a factor explaining the variance of both SBP and left ventricular mass at follow-up. In conclusion a difference in BP between male and female subjects emerges concomitantly with differences in body size during adolescence. An independent influence of sex on both BP and left ventricular mass appears in parallel with this.
Himmelmann
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Department of Medicine, University of Göteborg, Ostra Hospital, Sweden.
Svensson
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Hansson
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L
D000293:Adolescent / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012727:Sex Characteristics