Hypertension has been clearly identified as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke. Hypertension screening and intervention programs for children are based on the concept that high normal blood pressure may be the childhood antecedent of adult hypertension or that blood pressure 'tracks' through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Blood pressure tracking has been well established for adults and young adults but results from various studies in children are controversial. At a Symposium on High Blood Pressure in the Young in 1979, it was concluded that there was insufficient information to recommend specific interventions for prepubertal children with blood pressure levels in the upper percentiles of the blood pressure distribution. Studies of longer duration with large population sizes and repeated blood pressure measurements over time were required to determine if blood pressure levels at these young ages were predictive of adult hypertension.