Overview

• The study followed about 38,000 U.S. participants from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, measured blood pressure at age 7 using AAP percentiles, and tracked deaths through 2016 via the National Death Index, recording 2,837 total deaths including 504 from cardiovascular disease.
• Children with elevated (90th–94th percentile) or hypertensive (≥95th percentile) blood pressure at age 7 had roughly a 40%–50% higher risk of premature cardiovascular death by their mid-50s.
• Moderately higher readings within the normal range were also tied to greater risk, with increases of 13% for systolic blood pressure and 18% for diastolic blood pressure.
• A sibling comparison across 150 clusters showed similar risk increases for the sibling with higher childhood blood pressure, suggesting shared family environment does not fully account for the association.
• Researchers highlight limits including a single childhood measurement and a cohort largely from Black and white populations in the 1960s, and they emphasize routine pediatric monitoring and heart-healthy habits; the findings were presented at the AHA Hypertension Sessions and published in JAMA.