Blood pressure (BP) is a crucial modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease across the lifespan, yet its trajectory from birth has not been well characterized. To address this gap, a study examined blood pressure patterns from birth through early childhood and assessed their association with the risk of developing hypertension later in childhood, involving 500 healthy children. The study found that mean systolic BP increased from 67.3 (standard deviation (SD) 8.8) mm Hg at birth to 100.2 (8.5) mm Hg at the first follow-up and further to 107.7 (9.5) mm Hg at the second follow-up, with similar rises in diastolic BP and mean arterial pressure (MAP).
Each 1-SD increase in initial BP at birth or early childhood was associated with higher BP at the last follow-up, including increases of 2.66 mm Hg in systolic BP, 1.37 mm Hg in diastolic BP, and 1.97 mm Hg in MAP. In fully adjusted…
