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Blood pressure centiles for Great Britain
Lisa V Jackson1, Nandu K S Thalange, Tim J Cole
1Willow Wood Medical Practice and University of East Anglia School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, Norwich, UK. lisa.jackson@nhs.net
Archives of Disease in Childhood
|August 15, 2006
Summary
New blood pressure reference centiles for British children and young people have been produced. High blood pressure is defined as above the 98th centile, aiding clinical practice and research.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Cardiovascular Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Establishing accurate blood pressure norms is crucial for identifying hypertension in pediatric populations.
- Previous reference ranges may not reflect current trends in children and young people's health.
- Nationally representative data are essential for creating reliable reference centiles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To generate contemporary, cross-sectional blood pressure reference centiles for children and young people in Great Britain.
- To provide updated benchmarks for assessing blood pressure status in pediatric and adolescent age groups.
- To support clinical identification of elevated blood pressure in young individuals.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of pooled data from seven large, nationally representative UK health surveys conducted between 1995 and 1998.
- Inclusion of blood pressure, height, and weight measurements from 11,364 males and 11,537 females aged 4-23 years.
- Application of the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) equations method to derive centiles for systolic, diastolic, mean arterial, and pulse pressure.
Main Results:
- Blood pressure showed similar trends in both sexes during childhood, increasing with age and accelerating during puberty.
- Adult men exhibited higher systolic blood pressure than adult women.
- Blood pressure was more strongly correlated with weight than height, particularly systolic pressure.
Conclusions:
- The derived centiles offer valuable insights into current blood pressure norms for British youth.
- Recommendations are provided for defining high blood pressure (above 98th centile) and high-normal blood pressure (91st-98th centile).
- These reference centiles will enhance the identification of children and young people with elevated blood pressure, benefiting clinical practice and research.
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