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Blood pressure percentiles by age and height for children and adolescents in Tehran, Iran

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 30, pages 268–277 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

To construct reference percentiles for blood pressure (BP) by sex, age and height for the first time in Iran, we used data on 16 972 healthy children, aged 1 month to 18 years, collected during 2000–2010 in Tehran. BP in this population rose steadily with age and height following a very similar trend in both genders up to the age of 14. Systolic BP (SBP) rise was more prominent in younger ages, and after puberty (15–18 years) was greater in boys compared with girls, while the rise in diastolic BP (DBP) was slightly higher in girls. Iranian norms, compared with ‘Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents’ (US-4th-Report) and the ‘German BP Percentiles by Age and Height for Children and Adolescents’ (KiGGS), showed a similar pattern of differences for both genders. For example, for Tehrani boys up to 6 years old whose heights were equal to 50th percentile of stature-for-age as well as length-for-age growth charts, the differences in 95th percentile for SBPs compared with the US-4th-report varied from 2–21 mm Hg while compared with KiGGS, maximum of differences was 9 mm Hg. For boys 7–15 years of age, ours were slightly higher than both. For ages of 16 and 17 years, we yielded figures lower than US-4th-report (2 mm Hg) but higher than KiGGS (3 mm Hg). Iranian 95th percentile for DBPs was lower than US-4th-report and KiGGS (1–11 mm Hg). Considering the differences with US-4th-report and KiGSS standards, the references presented in this study should rather be applied in Iranian population.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the children, adolescents and their families who cooperated in the three surveys and all the colleagues who helped in measurements. This present study is the result of a research project enacted by the Pediatric Kidney Disease Research Center (Grant Number 92-03-184-24284), the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. We would like to thank Dr Mahmoud Yousefifard and Dr Masoud Baikpour and Mr. Hadi Asady for their invaluable help. In addition, we are especially grateful for the help of Dr ME Jones at Section of Epidemiology, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease Research Center, Tehran, Iran

    N Ataei & F Ataei

  2. Department of Pediatric Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    N Ataei

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    M Hosseini, M Fayaz & I Navidi

  4. Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    A Taghiloo

  5. Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    K Kalantari

  6. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    F Ataei

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  1. N Ataei
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Correspondence to M Hosseini.

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Ataei, N., Hosseini, M., Fayaz, M. et al. Blood pressure percentiles by age and height for children and adolescents in Tehran, Iran. J Hum Hypertens 30, 268–277 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2015.52

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