Overview

• Children in the elevated (90–94th percentile) or hypertensive (≥95th percentile) range at age 7 faced about a 40%–50% higher risk of cardiovascular death by their mid-50s.
• Even within the normal range, moderately higher readings were tied to higher risk, with 13% (systolic) and 18% (diastolic) increases in premature cardiovascular mortality.
• A sibling comparison across 150 families showed the child with higher blood pressure had greater risk, indicating shared family factors do not fully explain the association.
• The study analyzed roughly 38,000 participants from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, born 1959–1965, with deaths tracked through 2016 via the National Death Index.
• Findings were presented at the AHA Hypertension Scientific Sessions and published in JAMA, prompting calls for closer pediatric monitoring as screening policies vary.