Reproducibility of ambulatory blood pressure measures in African-American adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) measures in African-American (AA) adolescents.


METHODS
Forty-one AA adolescents (age 16.6 +/- 1.3 yrs, 16F) with high-normal BP were measured on 3 occasions at 2-month intervals. Systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), and heart rate (HR) measures were recorded using the Spacelabs ambulatory BP monitor 90207 (Redmond, Wash) in the natural environment over 24-hour periods. Mixed model repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze the underlying error variance-covariance (V-C structures as well as mean differences for the 3 visits.


RESULTS
Daytime measures: there were no significant mean differences across visits for daytime SBP, DSP, and HR (all Ps > .57). The error V-C matrix was heterogeneous Toeplitz for daytime SBP. Correlations between visits 1 and 2, 1 and 3, and 2 and 3 for daytime SBP were rs = 0.71, 0.47, and 0.71, respectively. Compound symmetry (CS) was the preferred model for daytime DBP (r = 0.68) and HR (r = 0.75). Nighttime measures: there were no significant mean differences across visits for nighttime SBP, DBP, and HR (all Ps > .29). The error V-C matrix was unstructured for nighttime SBP. Correlations between visits 1 and 2, 1 and 3, and 2 and 3 for SBP were rs = 0.74, 0.33, and 0.33, respectively. CS was preferred for night-time DBP (r = 0.58) and HR (r = 0.74).


CONCLUSIONS
Collectively, these findings demonstrate that 3 measurements of ambulatory-derived DBP and HR measures are stable across 4 months, but SBP was only stable across 2 months in African-American adolescents.
Barnes
Vernon A
VA
Georgia Institute for Prevention of Human Diseases and Accidents, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia 30912, USA. vbarnes@mail.mcg.edu
Johnson
Maribeth H
MH
Dekkers
J Caroline
JC
Treiber
Frank A
FA
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000886:Anthropometry; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014505:Urban Population