Patients with white coat hypertension need their blood pressure closely monitored as they are at increased risk of dying from heart disease, say the authors of a new US study.

Patients with untreated white coat hypertension are twice as likely to die from a CVD event than people with normal blood pressure, according to the meta-analysis of 27 studies by researchers at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.

The researchers examined data from more than 64,000 patients (median age of 56) whose blood pressure was monitored at home and in a doctor’s office over a median of eight years, they reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The data showed that participants with untreated white coat hypertension had a 36% increased risk of a cardiovascular event and a 33% greater chance of death from any cause than patients with normal blood pressure (daytime less than 135/85mmHg).