'White coat' hypertension in children.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Cardiology
• Hypertension Research
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is crucial for diagnosing hypertension, particularly for identifying
• white coat
• hypertension in adults.
• The presence of
• white coat
• hypertension in children remains understudied.
• Essential hypertension has a known familial component.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if
• white coat
• hypertension exists in children with a family history of essential hypertension.
• To compare 24-hour ABPM patterns between normotensive,
• white coat
• hypertensive, and hypertensive children.

Main Methods:

• One hundred fifty-nine children (ages 5–15) were enrolled.
• Subjects were categorized into normotensive,
• white coat
• hypertensive, or hypertensive groups based on office and 24-hour ABPM readings.
• Office blood pressure measurements and 24-hour ABPM were utilized.

Main Results:

• Of 34 subjects with elevated systolic blood pressure (≥95th percentile), 44% were reclassified as
• white coat
• hypertensive.
• Significant differences in 24-hour ABPM patterns were observed between the normotensive,
• white coat
• hypertensive, and hypertensive groups.
• ABPM patterns of
• white coat
• hypertensive children differed significantly from normotensive children.

Conclusions:

• This study confirms the existence of
• white coat
• hypertension in children.
• Children with
• white coat
• hypertension exhibit distinct 24-hour ABPM profiles compared to normotensive and hypertensive peers.
• Increased body weight in children is associated with a higher likelihood of elevated systolic blood pressure, independent of other factors.