Brazilian pediatricians need to use national blood pressure reference values for their adolescents

Cardiovascular events are the most common causes of adult mortality with hypertension, being one of the most important treatable risk factors in both developed and developing countries.Globally, 7.6 million (13%) of premature deaths, 54% of all strokes, and 47% of all ischemic heart disease cases can be attributed to high blood pressure (BP) in adults. 1 The global prevalence of hypertension in adults has been increasing; it is estimated to reach 29% in 2025. 2 The prevalence of hypertension in pediatric populations is much lower, but high BP is associated with signs of hypertensive target organ damage even childhood.In 1987, only approximately 1% of children and adolescents were hypertensive with repeated measurements.3 However, in the past decades, there has been an evident increase in the prevalence of hypertension (up to 4%), especially in the United States, 4 but also in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.5,6 Therefore, detection of high BP is of a great clinical importance for the pediatric population and public health.The main diagnostic procedure in determining hypertension is BP measurement.