Overview of epidemiological studies on ambulatory blood pressure in Spain.
During the past few years, epidemiological research in Spain has focused on studies of specific populations: children, pregnant women and the elderly. We present an overview of thewse studies. First, concerning healthy normotensive children and adolescents, such basic topics of ambulatory blood pressure studies as reproducibility, reference values, tracking and the extent of circadian variability have been addressed. Moreover, the impacts of the weight at birth on the elevation of blood pressure values and on several other anthropometric parameters of children have been studied. Next, for a group of pregnant normotensive women, the blood pressure values and the diurnal blood pressure profile during normal pregnancy and after delivery have been assessed. Finally, for a group of the elderly selected randomly from a large population-based survey, the distribution of ambulatory blood pressure values has been presented.
Lurbe
E
Pediatric Nephrology Unit, General Hospital, Valencia, Spain.
Redón
J