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We aimed to study the white-coat effect (WCE) of clinic blood pressure (BP) and its relation to plasma cortisol, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and demographic variables. Henry et al. have earlier suggested two stress-reaction patterns. The “defeat reaction” mainly involves the cortisol-axis and the “fight-flight-response” is mediated by the sympatho-adrenal-system. Ninety-one men and 88 women 20–70 years of age, randomly selected from the population were recruited in this cross-sectional study. Clinic BP, plasma cortisol and plasma NPY (both analysed by radio-immunoassay) were obtained at 0800 h and 24h ambulatory BP (ABP) was performed. WCE was defined as supine clinic BP - mean daytime ABP. Cortisol correlated to the systolic WCE in the total material*(r=0.22, p=0.005) and in men 45–70 years of age (r=0.45, p=0.002, n=47) and to diastolic WCE in women 45–70 years of age * (r=0.37, p=0.02, n=38 …