Prevalence and predictors of white-coat hypertension in a large database of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring

The objective of this study was to determine both the prevalence of white-coat effect and white-coat hypertension [WCH] and which selected clinical variables were predictors of WCH. A total of 2462 patients underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring either in borderline hypertension [group 1] or for assessment of antihypertensive treatment [group 2] or for hypotension [group 3]. In the overall population 33.0% of patients showed WCH, 32.8% in group 1 and 37.0% in group 2. In multivariate analysis, sex and grade of hypertension were independent predictors of WCH in groups 1 and 2