Since not only the adult and elderly population, but also children and adolescents need to measure blood and pulse pressure, many parents often ask themselves: "What pressure in a 10-year-old child is the norm, and what is considered a deviation?" And if it's a baby, preschooler or teenager? What are their meanings? Let's try to understand the question of what normal pressure a child should have at different periods of his life.
What does your heart rate and blood pressure indicate?
The data of these two components make it possible to characterize the state of the human cardiovascular system. Deviations in indicators signal serious malfunctions in the body. These can be both independent diseases, and a consequence of a different kind of developing diseases.
Blood pressure concept
This is the total pressure of the blood on the walls of blood vessels. It has 2 main parameters: systolic (upper), indicates pressure at the maximum contraction of the heart at the time of blood ejection, and diastolic (lower), on the contrary, indicates pressure on the walls of blood vessels when the heart muscle is maximally relaxed. The difference between the upper andlower value - an indicator of pulse pressure.
Do people have the same pressure?
At different periods of human life, blood pressure measurement shows different values. When a child is born, his blood pressure is low. The older he is, the higher his pressure, since the tone of the vessels increases over the years, their elasticity is lost. As a rule, the systolic and pulse pressure values add up to 200.
Normal blood pressure in children
The generally accepted average is considered to be the value of 120/80 mm Hg. This indicator characterizes the well-being of adults. Everyone has their own norm, which can be influenced even by such factors as life in urban or rural conditions, hereditary predisposition, the nature of nutrition (for example, a tendency to overly s alty foods). To operate with knowledge of what blood pressure in children is considered normal, you can resort to various formulas and methods. All of them give universal indicators for children of different physiques and constitutions, whether, for example, they are tall or short, thin or overweight.
So what is the pressure in children? For newborns and children up to a year old, the systolic pressure formula is 76 + 2x, where x is the number of months the child has. Diastolic is 2/3 - 1/2 of the maximum upper. To measure pressure in children older than a year, they resort to the formula of I. M. Voronin: forsystolic is 90 + 2x, diastolic is 60 + x, where x is a quantitative indicator of age in years. As an example, let's take the pressure in a 10-year-old child: the norm should be 110/70 (90 + 2x10 / 60 + 10). The lower limit of normal systolic pressure should not exceed 75 + 2x, the upper - 105 + 2x. The calculation for the diastolic indicator is similar: the permissible minimum is 45 + x, the maximum is 75 + x. Therefore, the pressure in a child of 10 years old (the norm of acceptable values) can vary between 95-125 / 55-85.
Table of pressure in children of different ages (minimum and maximum allowable parameters)
| Age of children (in years) | Pressure | |
| Top | Lower | |
| Newborn | 60 - 96 | 40 - 50 |
| 1 month | 80 - 112 | 40 - 74 |
| 1 | 90 - 112 | 50 - 74 |
| 2 - 3 | 100 - 112 | 60 - 74 |
| 4 - 5 | 100 - 116 | 60 - 76 |
| 6 - 9 | 100 - 122 | 60 - 78 |
| 10 - 12 | 110 - 126 | 70 - 82 |
| 13 - 15 | 110 - 136 | 70 - 86 |
How to measure blood pressure correctly?
To determine what pressure in children is acceptable at a particular age, you should resort to a device for measuring it - a tonometer (there is an automatic or semi-automatic device). A very popular electronic device in the home. When measuring blood pressure, the child's handshould be extended, palm turned up. A rubber, fabric-covered cuff is attached to the bare forearm at a distance of 2-3 cm from the elbow bend (so that the index finger fits freely under it). The phonendoscope is placed on the pulsating artery at the elbow bend. The cuff is inflated until the pulse disappears. When the valve is opened and air is slowly released from the cuff in the phonendoscope, you need to listen to the first and last sound tones, which will be indicators of systolic and diastolic pressure, respectively.
Features of measurement
To obtain more accurate values, it is more correct to measure blood pressure in children immediately after sleep or a short rest, since motor and emotional activity contributes to an increase in parameters. Caffeine can affect the performance, so it is better to refrain from products containing it at least an hour before taking measurements. For greater accuracy of readings, it is better to purchase tonometer cuffs specially designed for children. For children of different ages, the cuff width will vary. So, it will be (in cm): for newborns - 3; for children up to a year - 5; preschool children - 8; adolescents - 10. It is believed that the lower edge of the cuff cannot be higher than 2-3 cm from the cubital fossa. In children under 2 years of age, measurements are taken in the prone position, for other age categories - lying, sitting, even standing. It should be understood that measuring blood pressure in children on both arms can give different results.indicators. It is better to take measurements 3 times, after a few minutes each, and in the same position. The correct indicator will be considered the smallest value obtained. Sometimes an increase or decrease in pressure can be the result of a child's fear of visiting hospitals, rejection of doctors in white coats. If your child does not complain of being unwell, it makes sense to double-check him in a calm home.
What if it's not the norm?
As a rule, up to the age of 5, the pressure in boys and girls is equivalent, at the age of 5-9 in boys it is slightly higher. With an increase in the load on the heart muscle, the systolic pressure indicators are generally higher in all adolescents (at 12-14 years old in girls and at 14-16 years old in boys). An increase is especially important for chubby ones.
A few words about hypertension
Blood pressure in excess of the maximum allowable norm without obvious signs, for example, as a result of pubertal restructuring of the body, stress, minor physical activity, including in the fresh air, indicates a possible primary hypertension. For the most part, this is not even a disease, but a certain response of the body to external signals.
High levels of upper blood pressure serve as an alarming sign indicating thyroid dysfunction, anemia. If both the upper and lower values are too high, it is worth checking the work of the adrenal glands, the heart, the central nervous system, and especially the kidneys. This is secondary hypertension. It is important to eliminate the cause of the primary disease. Not a bad actionto reduce blood pressure has the use of blackcurrant.
Who is likely to have hypotension?
On the contrary, low blood pressure or hypotension indicates fatigue, weakness of the body, dizziness. Not as dangerous as high blood pressure. More typical for asthenics. It is observed during infections, starvation, shock conditions, fainting, heart attacks, etc. Hardening, sports, caffeine (in moderate doses) can restore the norm.
No matter what pressure a 10-year-old child has - the norm or deviations - if he feels unwell, he should definitely go to the doctor.
