THE COURSE OF BLOOD-PRESSURE IN CHILDREN AND JUVENILES - LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OVER 10 YEARS

115 children (79 boys, 36 girls; mean age 11 4/12 [10 1/2 - 15 4/12] years) with primary borderline blood pressure or mild hypertension (90th to 97th percentile according to the German League for the Fight Against High Blood Pressure) and 115 healthy children of corresponding age (5 2 boys and 63 girls) with innocent cardiac murmurs were followed in a paediatric cardiological outpatient department, initially for 5 years. Blood pressure was measured at rest and on exercise (bicycle ergometry). After 5 years 51 of the children with primary hypertension (44%) still had borderline pressures, in 11 moderately severe hypertension had developed, while in the remaining 53 children (46%) the blood pressure was normal. Among the control group borderline pressures were recorded in only two children. After 10 years, 92 children in the test group and 79 in the control group were re-examined. 26 children (28%) among the test group were now normotensive, 35 (38%) had borderline pressures, and 31 (34%) had moderately severe hypertension. Among the control group, borderline hypertension had developed in 3 children, moderate hypertension in one. Among children with persisting hypertension those with hypertension on exercise and/or over-weight significantly predominated (85% and 66%, respectively).