Cardiovascular health
LMS
BLOOD
Cardiovascular health was defined as the assessment of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate at rest. These measures were chosen to provide a non-invasive insight into cardiovascular health that are simple and quick to obtain. A trained researcher measured heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure at rest using the validated electronic sphygmomanometer Omron blood pressure monitor (Omron M6 Comfort oscillometric device HEM-7321-E, Omrom Healthcare, Kyoto, Japan). Participants were seated with limbs uncrossed with feet firmly on the ground and the arm supported at the heart level on a nearby even surface. Blood pressure and heart rate measures were obtained after at least 5 min of rest in the sitting position. Children were asked to remain still by the researcher for the duration of the assessment for an accurate reading. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure centiles were calculated using the LMS method for each participant according to age-, sex- and height-specific reference data published by Flynn et al. [