Interpreting blood pressure measurements for children is complicated by the need to account for a constantly changing body size. It is time-consuming to calculate and/or perform data entry during a patient visit, yet assessment of blood pressure percentiles is medically recommended from the age of 3 onward because 75% of cases of pediatric hypertension and 90% of cases of pre-hypertension in children from 3 to 18 years of age are left undetected.

The BP Centiles app reads a child’s relevant vitals and calculates systolic and diastolic blood pressure percentiles normalized by age, sex, and height. The app also includes a pop-up calculator and a graphical history of the child"s blood pressure percentile, enabling full screening at each visit.

Color coding reveals at a glance whether individual readings are normal (green), prehypertensive (yellow), hypertensive (red) or hypotensive (blue). Users can zoom in on a group of readings for more information and apply relevant filters to help them interpret the measurements—such as looking only at BPs measured in the legs, sitting down or by machine.

References

The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, NIH obtained 8 March 2012  

The Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH obtained 6 April 2011