Blood pressure distribution among healthy schoolchildren aged 6-13 years in Tehran

To obtain blood pressure distribution for Iranian children, we assessed 10,288 students aged 6-13 years (4871 boys and 5417 girls) in Tehran. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed incremental increases with age, weight and height in both sexes. Mean increases in systolic blood pressure for boys and girls were 1.7 and 0.8 mmHg per year respectively and for diastolic blood pressure were 0.7 and 0.9 mmHg respectively. According to Second Task Force (STF) criteria, 4.9% of boys and 3.5% of girls had significant systolic hypertension and 10.1% of boys and 3.3% of girls had significant diastolic hypertension. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were higher than STF reports, especially among boys.