Blood pressure reference values for European non-overweight school children: the IDEFICS study

Abstract

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.