Reference ranges for blood pressure in preschool Australians, obtained by oscillometry

Abstract

Objective: To derive reference centiles for blood pressure in children aged 1-6 years which seek to address shortcomings in available reference ranges.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of 2876 children in Perth, Western Australia, commenced in 1989 with serial blood pressure measurements through early childhood obtained by oscillometry under standardized conditions.

Results: Gender-specific reference centile charts for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, (i) across ages 1-6 years and (ii) across the range of corrected Body Mass Index values at ages 1, 3 and 6 years, were generated by fitting linear models with both fixed and random effects.

Conclusions: Reference values for blood pressure for young children are of clinical use and may be of long-term predictive value.