High Prevalence of White-Coat Hypertension in Spanish Resistant Hypertensive Patients

R esistant hypertension is a major public health challenge both in the United States and worldwide. Although various authors use different definitions, a recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association Professional Education Committee of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research 1 defined resistant hypertension as blood pressure either controlled by 4 antihypertensive medications or 140/90 mm Hg, despite 3 antihypertensive medications of different classes, at near-maximal US Food and Drug Administration-approved doses, one of which is a diuretic. Some authors add a minimum duration of 3 months of such treatment; others insist that the medications must be "appropriately chosen," the patient adherent, and/or the patient referred by a physician to a hypertension center.