Casual blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure measurement in children.

Some epidemiological studies on blood pressure among children and adolescents have revealed that blood pressure levels in childhood are the strongest predictors of adult blood pressure levels. In the adult population, hypertension causes a two to threefold increase in an individual's risk of cardiovascular morbidity. Cardiovascular risk depends on blood pressure itself, coexistent risk factors and whether there is hypertensive end-organ damage. Therefore, accuracy in determining blood pressure is essential and a standardized protocol should be considered for blood pressure measurement, which would make the comparison of results obtained by different studies in different countries possible. This article reviews the main determinants of accuracy for casual and ambulatory blood pressure measurements in children.