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Blood pressure reference values for European non-overweight school children: the IDEFICS study
1Epidemiology & Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, CNR, Avellino, Italy.
Insights
Updated blood pressure (BP) reference values for non-overweight European school children aged 2 to 10.9 years are now available. These findings help in monitoring child health and planning disease prevention strategies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Cardiovascular Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Accurate blood pressure (BP) reference values are crucial for identifying hypertension in children.
- Previous reference data may not reflect current pediatric populations, necessitating updated values.
- The IDEFICS study provides a robust dataset for establishing reliable BP norms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish age- and height-specific oscillometric blood pressure (BP) reference values for European non-overweight school children.
- To provide separate BP percentiles for boys and girls to account for sex-based differences.
- To inform public health initiatives for disease prevention in children.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional analysis of data from the IDEFICS study (n=16,937, ages 2-10.9 years).
- Standardized BP and anthropometric measurements were collected.
- Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) were used to calculate BP percentiles, with sensitivity analyses performed.
Main Results:
- Provided age- and height-specific BP percentiles for non-overweight European children (n=13,547), stratified by sex.
- Observed slight differences in diastolic BP between girls and boys, and higher systolic BP in boys from age 5.
- Demonstrated that including overweight/obese children elevated reference BP values, particularly systolic BP in girls.
Conclusions:
- Presents updated BP reference values for European children aged 2 to <11 years.
- These updated norms are valuable for clinical monitoring and population health strategies.
- Highlights the impact of overweight and obesity on BP reference values.
Objectives:
To provide oscillometric blood pressure (BP) reference values in European non-overweight school children.
Design:
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.
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