Percentiles of blood pressure of Egyptian children and adolescents [3-17 years]

ABSTRACT

Blood pressure [BP] percentiles for Egyptian children and adolescents provide representative Egyptian BP levels and their use may be essential. The present study aimed to determine and describe levels of systolic blood pressure [SBP] and diastolic blood pressure [DBP] across age and gender of 22,072 healthy children and adolescents to drive reference percentiles for BP of Egyptian children and adolescents. It also aimed to assess the association between age, sex, height and BMI with BP in healthy Egyptian children and adolescents. The study is a cross-sectional one, including 22,072 healthy Egyptian children and adolescents [10997 boys and 11075 girls] at age range of 3 to 17 years from nurseries and private schools in Cairo and Giza Governorates. A questionnaire was designed including Full medical and family history and full clinical examination and Height, weight and BP measurements for all subjects. The study results revealed that both systolic BPand Diastolic BP were significantly higher in Egyptian children compared to other ethnic groups and that BP is influenced by gender, age and height and body mass index [BMI]. The study recommends development of national strategy to reduce overweight and obesity during childhood