[Value of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in borderline hypertension in the child].

This study was undertaken to evaluate the reliability of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in children and its diagnostic value in teenagers with borderline hypertension. The apparatus used was a Nippon Colin (NC) ABPM 630 which simultaneously obtains BP levels by the auscultatory and oscillometric methods. Among 61 children (mean age 12 +/- 3 years), proportion of measurement failures was 14% (470/3399) for oscillometry, 26.5% (893/3360) for auscultation, and 2.7% for both methods together. Comparison of conventional auscultatory blood pressure measurements (mercury manometer) and simultaneous NC-auscultatory BP values (50 pairs) showed slightly lower diastolic blood pressure values with the NC monitor (-3.8 +/- 4.9 mmHg, p less than 0.01). Comparison of blood pressure values provided by the two NC methods (1580 pairs) demonstrated slightly higher systolic blood pressure values (+2.5 +/- 4 mmHg; p less than 0.001) and slightly lower diastolic blood pressure values (-5 +/- 4 mmHg; p less than 0.001) with the oscillometric method. Thirty-four ambulatory blood pressure recordings were obtained in 28 children (mean age 13.3: range 8-17) with outpatient clinic blood pressure values suggestive of borderline hypertension. Numbers of ambulatory blood pressure readings were 44 +/- 5 during the day and 9 +/- 1 during the night. The mean of daytime blood pressure values was compared with reference blood pressure values obtained at rest in normal French children.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)