CARDIAC END-ORGAN CHANGES - COMPARISON BETWEEN WHITE COAT HYPERTENSION AND PERSISTENT MILD HYPERTENSION

Conflicting viewpoints exist concerning the risk of cardiovascular mor bidity for patients with white coat hypertension. The aim of this stud y was to compare cardiac end-organ change in white coat hypertension w ith persistent mildly hypertensive patients. Twenty-two white coat hyp ertensive patients and 15 persistently hypertensive patients were cons idered eligible for the study after 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, Echocardiography was performed on all patients. The result s demonstrated that bo th groups had similar clinical bac backgrounds except that white coat hypertensives were predominantly female and had less family history of hypertension. Persistent hypertensives had sig nificantly higher average ambulatory blood pressures and pressure load s than white coat hypertensives but there was no difference in blood p ressure variability. There were no differences in cardiac structural a nd functional changes between the two groups. As a result, we were una ble to ascertain whether white coat hypertension is a benign condition . The prognostic significance of white coat hypertension requires long term follow-up and further investigation.