title: Resting heart rate is associated with blood pressure in male children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the association between resting heart rate and blood pressure in male children and adolescents and to identify if this association is mediated by important confounders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study carried out with 356 male children and adolescents from 8 to 18 years old. Resting heart rate was measured by a portable heart rate monitor according to recommendations and stratified into quartiles. Blood pressure was measured with an electronic device previously validated for pediatric populations. Body fatness was estimated by a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Obese subjects had values of resting heart rate 7.8% higher than nonobese (P = .001). Hypertensive children and adolescents also had elevated values of resting heart rate (P = .001). When the sample was stratified in nonobese and obese, the higher quartile of resting heart rate was associated with hypertension in both groups of children and adolescents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms the existence of a relationship between elevated resting heart rate and increased blood pressure in a pediatric population, independent of adiposity, ethnicity and age.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioscience, UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil. romulo_ef@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Rômulo Araújo
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Ismael Forte
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Freitas Júnior
authors.forename: Jamile Sanches
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Codogno
authors.forename: Diego Giulliano Destro
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Christofaro
authors.forename: Henrique Luiz
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.forename: Dalmo Machado
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Roberto Lopes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis