Normative blood pressure response to exercise stress testing in children and adolescents.

Objective: To describe normative values for blood pressure (BP) response to maximal exercise in children/adolescents undergoing a treadmill stress test.

Methods: From a retrospective analysis of medical records, patients who had undergone a Bruce protocol exercise stress test, with (1) normal cardiovascular system and (2) a body mass index percentile rank below 95% were included for analysis. Sex, age, height, weight, resting and peak heart rate, resting and peak systolic blood pressure (SBP), test duration, stage of Bruce protocol at termination, reason for undergoing the test and reason for termination of test were collected.