title: Blood pressure reference values for European non-overweight school children: the IDEFICS study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide oscillometric blood pressure (BP) reference values in European non-overweight school children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis from the IDEFICS study (www.ideficsstudy.eu) database.
  
  
  METHODS
  Standardised BP and anthropometric measures were obtained from children aged 2 to 10.9 years, participating in the 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 IDEFICS surveys. Age- and height-specific systolic and diastolic pressure percentiles were calculated by GAMLSS, separately for boys and girls, in both the entire population (n=16,937) and the non-overweight children only (n=13,547). The robustness of the models was tested by sensitivity analyses carried out in both population samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Percentiles of BP distribution in non-overweight children were provided by age and height strata, separately for boys and girls. Diastolic BP norms were slightly higher in girls than in boys for similar age and height, while systolic BP values tended to be higher in boys starting from age 5 years. Sensitivity analysis, comparing BP distributions obtained in all children with those of non-overweight children, showed that the inclusion of overweight/obese individuals shifted the references values upward, in particular systolic BP in girls at the extreme percentiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present analysis provides updated and timely information about reference values for BP in children aged 2 to <11 years that may be useful for monitoring and planning population strategies for disease prevention.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology & Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, CNR, Avellino, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barba
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buck
authors.affiliation: 1] Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany [2] Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research, Bremen University, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bammann
authors.affiliation: Research and Education Institute of Child Health, Strovolos, Cyprus.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadjigeorgiou
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hebestreit
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Göteborg, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mårild
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molnár
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology & Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, CNR, Avellino, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chronic Diseases, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Veidebaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vyncke
authors.affiliation: 1] Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany [2] Institute of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Bremen University, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ahrens
authors.affiliation: GENUD Research Group, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012015:Reference Standards; D012016:Reference Values; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D044465:White People