Meng Y, Magnussen CG, Wu F, et al. - Within-visit SBP variability from childhood to adulthood has no additional predictive value when compared with SBP throughout the same time span.

• Within-visit SBP variability was determined using the standard deviation of three sitting SBP readings from 3,010 participants aged 6–18 years (childhood) who were re-measured up to seven times till mid-adulthood.

• The mean (standard deviation) cumulative within-visit SBP variability was 2.7 (1.5) mmHg in childhood, 3.9 (1.9) mmHg in adulthood and 3.7 (1.5) mmHg over the observed lifetime.

• Childhood within-visit SBP variability was unrelated to subsequent values measured from 3 to 31 years later.

• With adjustment for age, gender, cumulative SBP, BMI and serum lipids, neither child, adult, or lifetime cumulative within-visit SBP variability linked to markers of cardiovascular end-organ damage.

• Higher child, adult, and lifetime cumulative SBP, on the other hand, was associated with greater carotid intima-media thickness, greater pulse wave velocity, less brachial flow-mediated dilatation, and decreased carotid distensibility in adulthood.