Blood pressure percentiles in 22,051 German children and adolescents: The PEP Family Heart Study.

Background: Strong associations between blood pressure (BP) and overweight raise the question whether overweight children (body mass index (BMI) ≥85th percentile) should be included in the normative database.

Methods: Using the LMS (Lamda-Mu-Sigma) method, we developed age-, gender-, and height-adjusted percentile curves for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at the 50th, 85th, 90th, 95th, and 97th percentiles in 22,051 German youths (18,917 normal-weight, 1,938 overweight, and 1,196 obese) aged 3-18 years from yearly cross-sectional surveys of the PEP Family Heart Study Nuremberg.

Results: Among children, we found no gender differences for BP and BMI.