Blood Pressure and Response to “Stress” in 11–16 Year Old Children

Blood pressure at rest and cardiovascular response to "stress" were studied in 27 girls and 33 boys 11-16 years old. One group (HT, n = 23) had hypertensive mothers with a previous hypertensive pregnancy, another group (NT, n = 20) had normotensive mothers with a previous hypertensive pregnancy and the control group (C, n = 17) had normotensive mothers with normotensive pregnancies. Resting blood pressure was 124/71 mmHg (HT), 117/67 mmHg (NT) and 112/65 mmHg in the 3 groups. Systolic pressure was significantly different in all 3 groups (p less than 0.05 - p less than 0.001). Responses to noise stimulation (100 dBA) were identical in all groups with increases in diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure and cardiac output. During a video game session increases in blood pressure and heart rate were equal in the groups but during physical exercise a slight decrease in diastolic blood pressure was seen in the NT and C groups only. Differences in blood pressure in children with varying maternal history of hypertension do not seem to reflect alterations in the cardiovascular response pattern to "stress".