The prevalence of adolescent hypertension in Hungary - the Debrecen hypertension study.

AbstractBackground. The aim of this study was to obtain epidemiological data and to determine the prevalence of adolescent hypertension implementing a blood pressure (BP) screening. Methods. We performed a cross-sectional, population-based survey in a major Hungarian city (Debrecen, population 230,000). After a 10-min resting period, three consecutive BP measurements were taken. Results. Complete records were obtained for 10,194 subjects (5163 boys and 5031 girls). The mean age was 16.6±1.0 years. BP for boys was higher than for girls (ΔBPsyst=11 mmHg; ΔBPdiast=2 mmHg, p<0.001). A significant decrease was observed in BP during the three consecutive measurements (time 1–3: ΔBPsyst=4 mmHg; ΔBPdiast=2.5 mmHg; p<0.001). Systolic and/or diastolic BP exceeded the age-, gender- and height-adjusted 90th percentile in 1614 (15.84%) adolescents. Following two lots of three extra measurements on 1461 subjects of this sub-sample, hypertension (systolic and/or diastolic BP exceeded the 95th percentile) was confirmed i...