Oscillometric Blood Pressure in Indian School Children: Simplified Percentile Tables and Charts.

BACKGROUND Data on blood pressure recorded by oscillometric method is limited. OBJECTIVE To develop simplified tables and charts of blood pressure recorded by oscillometric method in children. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Ballabhgarh, Haryana. PARTICIPANTS Healthy school-children. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Blood pressure measured by oscillometric method. RESULTS The study group included 7,761 children (58.4% males) with mean (SD) age of 10.5 (2.8) years. Age and gender were used to create simplified percentile tables and charts, as height was seen to explain very little variability of either systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Formulae for SBP and DBP thresholds for hypertension were derived as [110 + 1.6 x age] and [79 + 0.7 x age], respectively, with 1 mm Hg to be added for females. 95th percentile values suggest simple levels indicating hypertension to be 120/80, 125/85 and 135/90 at ages of 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Simplified reference tables and charts, formulae for SBP and DBP, and simple convenient thresholds may be useful for rapid screening of hypertension using oscillometric method.