Abstract
Objective: White coat hypertension (WCH) is characterized by
blood pressure, which is high in the outpatient clinic and normal
either on ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring or home
BP monitoring. In this study, our objective was to investigate the
effects of obesity on end organ damage and the correlation between
body mass index (BMI) and end organ damage caused by WCH.
Patients and Methods: Individuals, who applied to our
outpatient clinic due to other complaints or who were not diagnosed
with or treated for hypertension, were enrolled in our study. Based
on daytime values, systolic blood pressures below 135mmHg
and diastolic blood pressures below 85mmHg were considered as
WCH. The patients were examined for the findings of end organ
damage. The left ventricular mass (LVM) was measured with
echocardiography. Findings of hypertensive retinopathy were
evaluated and albumin levels were measured.
Results: The mean left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and
LVM values were 96.29±25.6g/m2 and 170.87±50.17g respectively.
The rate of hypertensive retinopathy was 17%. We determined
a significant correlation between BMI and LVMI independently
from blood pressure levels.
Conclusion: There are conflicting conclusions about the risks
related to WCH. However, several types of end organ damage
can be observed independently from the blood pressure levels in
this group of patients. Cardiac failure is more common and has
an early onset in obese patients with WCH. In conclusion, end
organ damage may emerge during the follow-up of WCH patients
without a significant change in the blood pressure values.