Prevalence of masked hypertension among kidney donors

Sir, Hypertension plays a major role in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A good correlation has been reported between multiple blood pressure readings taken in the clinic under standardized conditions and left ventricular mass.[1,2] White coat hypertension or isolated clinic hypertension is transient elevation of blood pressure in response to the observer measuring the blood pressure.[3] Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has clarified not only the existence of white coat hypertension, but also the opposite phenomenon masked hypertension. Masked hypertension or white coat normotension, also called isolated ambulatory hypertension, has been reported in the general population.[4,5] Masked hypertension is present in approximately 10–25% of adult patients initially classified as normotensive on the basis of their blood pressure readings in the clinic.[5] Kidney donors are screened for hypertension as well as other conditions, but masked hypertension is not well studied among them.