Predicting resting blood pressure at eighteen years: the Dunedin Study.

PURPOSE

To examine the value of repeated blood pressure screening during childhood, and exercise testing in adolescence, for predicting resting blood pressure at eighteen years.

METHOD

Regular measures of blood pressure and other variables in a birth cohort from 7 to 18 years. Cardiovascular responses to exercise testing at 15 and 18 years.

RESULTS

The best predictors of resting blood pressure at 18 years were body size at 18 years and resting blood pressure at 15 years. Neither exercise and recovery blood pressures at 15 years, nor the way blood pressure had tracked through childhood, added importantly to the prediction.

CONCLUSION

We question the value of screening for hypertension during childhood, either by regular resting measures or by exercise testing in adolescence.