title: White Coat Hypertension: to Treat or Not to Treat?
abstract: Definition of white coat hypertension (WCH) traditionally relies on elevated office blood pressure (BP) during repeated visits concomitant with normal out-of-office BP values, as assessed by home and/or 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring measurements. Accumulating evidence focusing on the association of WCH with target organ damage and, more importantly, with cardiovascular events indicates that the risk conveyed by this condition is intermediate between normotension and sustained hypertension. This article will review a number of issues concerning WCH with particular emphasis on the following: (1) prevalence and clinical correlates, (2) association with target organ damage and cardiovascular events, (3) therapeutic interventions. Data will refer to the original WCH definition, based on out-of-office BP determined by 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring; at variance from home BP measurement, this approach rules out the potentially confounding effect of a clinically relevant abnormal BP phenotype such as isolated nocturnal hypertension.
authors: Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy. cesare.cuspidi@unimib.it.|Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milano, Italy. cesare.cuspidi@unimib.it.|Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Clinical Research Unit, Meda (MB), Italy. cesare.cuspidi@unimib.it.
authors: Cesare
authors: C
authors: Cuspidi
authors: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milano and Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors: Carla
authors: C
authors: Sala
authors: Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.|Istituto di Ricerche a Carattere Scientifico Multimedica, Sesto San Giovanni, Milan, Italy.
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Grassi
authors: Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Mancia
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D059466:White Coat Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Cardiovascular prognosis; Organ damage; Treatment; White coat hypertension