title: Office, ambulatory and home blood pressure measurement in children and adolescents.
abstract: There is an increasing interest in pediatric hypertension, the prevalence of which is rising in parallel with the obesity epidemic. Traditionally the assessment of hypertension in children has relied on office blood pressure (BP) measurements by the physician. However, as in adults, office BP might be misleading in children mainly due to the white coat and masked hypertension phenomena. Thus, out-of-office BP assessment, using ambulatory or home monitoring, has gained ground for the accurate diagnosis of hypertension and decision-making. Ambulatory monitoring is regarded as indispensable for the evaluation of pediatric hypertension. Preliminary data support the usefulness of home monitoring, yet more evidence is needed. Office, ambulatory and home BP normalcy tables providing thresholds for diagnosis have been published and should be used for the assessment of elevated BP in children.
authors.affiliation: Hypertension Center, Third University Department of Medicine, Sotiria Hospital, 152 Mesogion Avenue, Athens 11527, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Karpettas
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kollias
authors.forename: Andriani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vazeou
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Stergiou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009819:Office Visits; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents