Article

Circulating homocysteine levels in sustained and white coat hypertension.

Centro per lo Studio dell'Ipertensione Arteriosa, delle Dislipidemie e dell'Arteriosclerosi, Dipartimento di Medicina e Scienze dell'Invecchiamento, University Gabriele d'Annuzio, Chieti, Italy.
Journal of Human Hypertension (impact factor: 2.8). 03/2003; 17(3):165-70. DOI:10.1038/sj.jhh.1001524
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Although white coat hypertension has been widely studied in the last years, its risk profile is not yet completely clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate circulating homocysteine levels, an emerging cardiovascular risk factor, in subjects with white coat and sustained hypertension. We selected 31 sustained hypertensive subjects, 31 white coat hypertensive subjects and 31 normotensive subjects matched for age, gender, body mass index and occupation. Women were also matched for menopausal status. Subjects with smoking habit, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus were excluded from the study. White coat hypertension was defined as clinical hypertension and daytime ambulatory blood pressure <135/85 mmHg. Blood samples were drawn after a fasting period of 12 h for routine laboratory tests and homocysteine determination. Homocysteine levels were evaluated by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Creatinine, glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides were not different among the groups. White coat hypertensive subjects had significantly lower homocysteine levels than sustained hypertensive patients (8.2+/-2.0 vs 12.6+/-3.9 micromol/l, P=0.0003). No significant difference was observed between white coat hypertensive and normotensive subjects regarding this parameter (8.2+/-2.0 vs 7.6+/-1.9 micromol/l, P=0.9). In conclusion, our data show that middle-aged white coat hypertensive subjects without other cardiovascular risk factors have lower circulating homocysteine levels than sustained hypertensive patients suggesting that they are at lower cardiovascular risk.

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Keywords

31 normotensive subjects
 
31 white coat hypertensive subjects
 
Blood samples
 
body mass index
 
cardiovascular risk factors
 
clinical hypertension
 
emerging cardiovascular risk factor
 
fluorescence polarization immunoassay
 
homocysteine determination
 
hypertensive patients
 
hypertensive subjects
 
lower cardiovascular risk
 
middle-aged white coat hypertensive subjects
 
normotensive subjects
 
risk profile
 
routine laboratory tests
 
white coat
 
white coat hypertension
 
white coat hypertensive
 
White coat hypertensive subjects