Blood pressure tracks with age and maturation, suggesting early identification of young individuals at increased risk for cardiovascular disease may be possible.
In industrialized societies, blood pressure increases with age, and blood pressure at one age is related to blood pressure at an earlier age. Blood pressure is also related to weight, weight change, and maturation. This paper reviews the association of growth and maturation with blood pressure and the evidence for blood pressure "tracking" with age. Additional longitudinal studies are required to determine if blood pressures before puberty are related to blood pressures of sexually mature young adults. Adolescents with "gestational" hypertension also have relatively high blood pressures at long-term follow-up. Thus, it may by possible to identify young individuals who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
Kotchen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.