White coat hypertension (WCH) is most likely a disorder associated with metabolic syndrome.
The study was performed at the Internal Medicine Polyclinic of Dumlupinar University on routine check-up patients. WCH cases who were overweight or obese and desiring weight loss were divided into two subgroups according to whether they preferred to achieve weight loss by medication or diet therapy.
The study included 324 cases (204 females) with WCH, 45 of whom were in normal weight range. Therefore, 86.1% (279) of cases with WCH were either overweight or obese, and 41.3% (134) of all WCH cases had dyslipidemia. Twenty-five cases (14.7%) stopped metformin therapy due to excessive anorexia. At the end of a 6-month period, there were highly significant differences between the two groups with respect to the prevalences of resolved WCH, hyperbetalipoproteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia, overweight and obesity, and decreased fasting plasma glucose below 110 mg/dL (P < 0.001 for all).
Due to gradually increased prevalences of impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, excess body weight, and obesity-like disorders from sustained normotension towards WCH and hypertension (HT) cases, and very high prevalences of excess weight and dyslipidemia in the WCH group, WCH may be an associated disorder of metabolic syndrome rather than just being a predisposing factor of atherosclerosis or HT alone. Thus, the management of WCH should not focus solely on the regulation of blood pressure with antihypertensive medications, but rather on the prevention of future excess weight and various associated disorders, and metformin alone is an effective therapeutic option, most likely due to its powerful inhibitory effect on appetite.