Familial Aggregation of Blood Pressure in Childhood

The familial aggregation of blood pressure is well known in adults. To determine if this familial effect is detectable in childhood, blood pressures of 721 children two to 14 years of age were taken in the homes of 190 families. A portable, automated blood-pressure recorder was used, and scores adjusted for age and sex were expressed in standard-deviation units. For both systolic and diastolic pressures, variance of blood-pressure scores was significantly less within families than among all children in this age group (p less than 0.01). Sib-sib and mother-child regression coefficients were 0.34 and 0.16 for systolic pressure and 0.32 and 0.17 for diastolic pressure respectively. The clustering effect was measurable at all levels of blood pressure. Thus, a familial influence on blood pressure can be detected in children, and it is possible that factors responsible for essential hypertension are acquired in childhood.