Predictive value of the “Blood Pressure To Height Ratio” in diagnosis of prehypertension and hypertension during childhood in Southeastern Turkey

Abstract

Recently, a simple, accurate and non-age-related index “Systolic/Diastolic Blood Pressure to Height Ratio (SBPHR/DBPHR)” is started to try for diagnosing hypertension in childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible cut-off points and diagnostic value of BPHR for identifying prehypertension/hypertension in children and adolescent, and evaluation of the relationship between body fat composition and BP. The community-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with 2730 students in 17 elementary and high school. Total body fat composition was analyzed with bioelectrical impedance analysis method. The ROC curve analysis indicated that SBPHR/DBPHR was a good predictor for identifying hypertension (AUC = 0.937, p < 0.0001; AUC = 0.880, p < 0.0001, respectively). The optimal cut-off values of SBPHR/DBPHR for hypertension were detected as 0.7767, 0.4688; respectively. Although, optimal cut-off points of SBPHR/DBPHR were statistically significant for discriminating prehypertension (0.6849, p < 0.0001; 0.4425, p < 0.0001, respectively), but the diagnostic value was lower (AUC = 0.738; AUC = 0.751, respectively). An increase of 1 unit in total body fat (%) leads to an average 0.38/0.26 mmHg increase in SBP/DBP values (p < 0.001). The results suggest that BPHR may be a useful diagnostic marker for screening elevated BP in childhood, and SBP/DBP values affected by the increase in total body fat percentage in obese and non-obese children.

Keywords

• blood pressure to height ratio
• body fat composition
• childhood
• hypertension
• obesity