title: Repeated ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in adolescents with mild hypertension.
abstract: The reproducibility of serial measurements of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has not been well explored in children. We performed 24-h ABPM in 59 subjects (38 boys) aged 8-19 years with repeatedly elevated casual blood pressure (BP). According to the results of ABPM, the individuals were divided into a hypertensive group (mean 24-h systolic or diastolic BP >95th percentile for height, n=28) and a normotensive group (n=31). No antihypertensive agents were given. Both groups were reexamined after 1 year. In the hypertensive group, systolic and diastolic BP dropped significantly by an average of 2.1-4.5 mmHg when measured either during the daytime or over 24 h, but not at nighttime. In the normotensive group, only small BP changes were observed except for a significant increase in systolic BP at night. At the repeat examination after 1 year, 54% of the originally hypertensive subjects were defined as normotensive and 23% of the originally normotensive subjects as hypertensive. The study indicates that a single ABPM measurement is not sufficient for definitive classification of young individuals into hypertensives or normotensives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Trinec, First Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic. stepan.rucki@nemtr.cz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rucki
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results