CORRELATION BETWEEN SYSTOLIC BLOOD-PRESSURE AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADOLESCENCE

Although the close relation between blood pressure and physical develo pment in adolescence has been established in cross-sectional and compa rative cross-sectional studies, the entire trend of systolic blood pre ssure (SEP) during adolescence has not been elucidated in conjunction with physical development in a longitudinal study. Blood pressure (mmH g), body weight (kg), and body height fm) were measured annually for 4 18 subjects in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, from age 10 (1955 or 195 6) through 18 years (1963 or 1964). The Gompertz growth model was used to determine the velocity of weight increase (VEL) during that age pe riod. The relations between SEP from age 10 to 18 and VEL, weight, hei ght, body mass index (BMI; weight/height(2), kg/m(2)), and the age at which the measurements were made were investigated individually using random-coefficient growth-curve analysis. The SEP trend for the 10- to 18-year age period could be shown by the following prediction equatio ns: for the 163 Hiroshima males, SEP = 82.38 + 0.89 VEL at age 1.15 ye ars prior to the current examination (VEL (age - 1.15)) + 1.40 BMI; fo r the 57 Nagasaki males, SEP = 92.70 + 1.07 VEL (age - 1.15) + 0.79 BM I; for the 148 Hiroshima females, SEP = 104.88 + 1.63 VEL (age - 1.15) + 0.05 BMI; for the 50 Nagasaki females, SEP = 113.62 + 1.67 VEL (age - 1.15) - 0.59 BMI. VEL 1.15 years prior to the current examination w as significantly and positively related to SEP in each city by sex gro up (p < 0.01), and current BMl was significantly related to SEP for ma les in Hiroshima (p < 0.01) and nearly so in Nagasaki (p = 0.06), but not for females in either city (p = 0.84 and 0.13, respectively). Beca use the plot of VEL was a convex curve, SEP peaked approximately 1-2 y ears after the peak in VEL and then decreased in both sexes. The entir e SEP trend during adolescence can be expressed as an equation of VEL and BMI in males and of VEL in females. SEP does not increase linearly with age.