Grant: Project Grant

Background: High blood pressure (BP) in children is becoming more common and increases the future risk of adult heart and kidney disease. To prevent this, we must identify and treat children with high BP. BP also depends on ethnicity, and South Asians (e.g. Indian, Pakistani) have higher BP compared to white people. Rationale: BP measurements in a doctor's office can be inaccurate. To overcome this, we can perform multiple measurements over 24 hours, called ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM). Because BP changes as children grow, we need to know "normal" BP ranges for different ages. Our current "normal" ABPM data was derived from White European children more than 20 years ago. Therefore, our "normal" data is probably inaccurate for South Asian children and may lead to missed high BP. Objective: We plan to develop "normal" ABPM data for South Asian children and also understand how children's lifestyle factors such as diet quality, physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep affect 24-hr BP Methods: We will perform ABPM on 2746 healthy South Asian children from schools, places of worship and community centers within Peel, Greater Toronto, Hamilton area in Ontario and Surrey, BC. For physical activity, sedentary time, sleep time and quality, children will be given an ActiGraph monitor which they will wear on their wrist for 7 days. We will also ask them some questions about their physical activity, diet, sedentary and sleep behaviors, past medical history and family history. Impact: Our results will help determine "normal" ABPM data used to diagnose high BP in South Asian children worldwide. This will enable more accurate evaluation of high BP and will improve the kidney and heart health of South Asians throughout childhood and into adulthood.