[Arterial blood pressure of high school adolescents in Cracow--screening test]

The study aims at determining the actual standards of arterial blood pressure in adolescents (the unimode reading) and initial evaluation of risk of hypertension. Survey was carried out on sample of 2214 adolescents aged between 15 and 18, (1st and 2nd grade), BP was measured by medical staff (ununiformed) in the school medical office, between morning and noon, assuming group V auscultation as the measure of diastolic BP. Height, body mass and pulse rate was examined; students were asked to answer the questionnaire. Average values of systolic BP of 124.7 (+/- 14) mm Hg, diastolic BP of 73.1 (+/- 8.7) mm Hg, pulse 79.2 per minute, so called double product 9987. Searching for the criterion of hypertension, level of 95 percentiles amounted to: systolic BP of 148 mm Hg (145 in girls, 152 in boys), diastolic BP of 88 mm Hg (equal in both sexes). 162 subjects went beyond the level (7.3% of population): systolic BP of 106 (4.8% of students), diastolic BP of 81 (3.7%); 25 subjects (1.1%) exceeded both values.