Population studies of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in Brazilian children.

BACKGROUND: The determination of hypertension in a given population depends on the knowledge of population norms for blood pressure. This is true for both casual blood pressure (CBP) measurements and the newest and most promising technology of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). OBJECTIVE: To design an ambitious multinational co-operative study to determine normal blood pressure data in Brazilian children. METHODS: The study was designed to determine normative data for CBP, using the Task Force technical recommendations for age-, sex- and height-percentile-specific blood pressure values. The proposed procedure is as follows. ABPM will be studied in a random subgroup of individuals, to develop similar normative data. These data will be correlated to CBP measurements and to echocardiographic findings as a measure of end-organ damage. All patients who are diagnosed by CBP measurement to be hypertensive will also be studied by ABPM, and studies of target-organ damage will be performed. Family and medical histories will be evaluated by questionnaire and first-degree relatives will be evaluated for CBP measurement. Hypertensive patients will form a cohort for long-term follow-up. These data will be the foundation for studies of hypertension in Brazilian children.