[Prognostic importance of white coat and masked hypertension].

The growing use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has led to an increased awareness of the two types of discrepancy between office blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure, called white coat hypertension (WCH) and masked hypertension (MH). Based on several longitudinal studies, WCH is viewed as a condition with a relatively low cardiovascular risk, whereas patients with MH have an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Two studies documented a gradually increased risk from normotension over WCH and MH to sustained hypertension.