[Tracking of blood pressure in children].

In order to find out whether there is a "tracking phenomenon" of blood pressure in children, we examined in 1981 a group of 2,946 children (ages 4-14 years) and reexamined 2,588 of them (88.2%) in 1985. The results indicate: There is a weak degree of blood pressure "tracking phenomenon" in childhood. "Tracking coefficients" were 0.24 to 0.56 for systolic blood pressure, and 0.15 to 0.38 for diastolic pressure after four years of follow-up. Thirty percent of the children whose blood pressure were above the 90th percentile of the systolic blood pressure distribution at the first examination remained at the same level after four years. It is important to study further those subjects who show a consistent high percentile of blood pressure during childhood.