Arterial stiffness is a powerful and independent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease.1,2 Its prognostic value is added to others including hypertension. 3 The estimation of both stiffness and blood pressure (BP) can provide advantages in individual CV risk determination. 4 "Out-of-office" BP has a better CV prognostic value than office BP in hypertensive patients. This is a common knowledge; however, it is unclear how clinicians use this information in their decision-making.In untreated hypertensive patients at baseline, some authors 5,6 have shown that those with white-coat hypertension (WCH) according to ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) have similar CV risk to normotensive patients. However, other cohort studies with longer follow-up periods have shown that the CV risk of patients with WCH according to ABPM or home BP monitoring (HBPM) is intermediate between normotension and sustained hypertension 7 or even higher. 8 There are some factors to consider when discussing these discordant results. First is the rate of detection of subclinical vascular disease in patients diagnosed with WCH. When a patient has subclinical vascular disease, the diagnosis of WCH is not possible. For this reason, it is important to perform the appropriate search of subclinical vascular disease. If not, CV morbidity and mortality can be influenced. Second, patients identified as having WCH have a different profile according to out-of-office BP measurements (ABPM or HBPM). Patients with normal BP by both measurements have a lower basal CV risk than those who have normal values according to only one measurement.9 According to the above, hypertensive patients in whom normal out-of-office BP required by both techniques, ABPM and HBPM, have an incidence of CV events similar to that of normotensive patients, while those with one of the two measures high and the other normal have an intermediate CV risk among normotensive and sustained hypertensive patients.
10,11When these out-of-office measurements apply to the monitoring of treated hypertensive patients, it seems that both are useful and reliable.12,13 When a patient has outof-office BP controlled according to any one of the measures, ABPM or HBPM, CV risk is independent of BP measurement in the office. The work by Barochiner and colleagues 14 published in this issue of the Journal shows that hypertensive patients with persistent office hypertension (high BP in the office and normal HBPM) have greater arterial stiffness, measured by pulse wave velocity, than those with sustained normotension. Previously, Cuspidi and colleagues 15 showed similar findings with both ABPM and HBPM in treated hypertensive patients in relation to left ventricular hypertrophy. The conclusion is that this condition (persistent office hypertension) is perhaps not so benign, as is the case of WCH in untreated hypertensive patients.The study discussed has limitations that require caution in interpreting its results, particularly referring to the BP measurement types: office BP was obtained with only one determ...