Silent and clinically overt stroke in older Japanese subjects with white-coat and sustained hypertension.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether white-coat hypertension is a risk factor for stroke in relation to silent cerebral infarct (SCI) in an older Japanese population. BACKGROUND: It remains uncertain whether white-coat hypertension in older subjects is a benign condition or is associated with an increased risk of stroke. METHODS: We studied the prognosis for stroke in 958 older Japanese subjects (147 normotensives [NT], 236 white-coat hypertensives [WCHT] and 575 sustained hypertensives [SHT]) in whom ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed in the absence of antihypertensive treatment. In 585 subjects (61%), we also assessed SCI using brain magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Silent cerebral infarcts were found in 36% of NT (n = 70), 42% of WCHT (n = 154), and 53% of SHT (n = 361); multiple SCIs (the presence of > or =2 SCIs) were found in 24% of NT, 25% of WCHT and 39% of SHT. During a mean 42-month follow-up period, clinically overt strokes occurred in 62 subjects (NT: three [2.0%]; WCHT: five [2.1%]; SHT: 54 [9.4%]), with 14 fatal cases (NT: one [0.7%]; WCHT: 0 [0%]; SHT: 13 [2.3%]). A Cox regression analysis showed that age (p = 0.0001) and SHT (relative risk, [RR] [95% confidence interval, CI]: 4.3 [1.3-14.2], p = 0.018) were independent stroke predictors, whereas WCHT was not significant. When we added presence/absence of SCI at baseline into this model, the RR (95% CI) for SCI was 4.6 (2.0-10.5) (p = 0.003) and that of SHT was 5.5 (1.8-18.9) versus WCHT (p = 0.004) and 3.8 (0.88-16.7) versus NT (p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: In older subjects the incidence of stroke in WCHT is similar to that of NT and one-fourth the risk in SHT. Although SCI is a strong predictor of stroke, the difference in stroke prognosis between SHT and WCHT was independent of SCI. It is clinically important to distinguish WCHT from SHT even after assessment of target organ damage in the elderly.