Cardiovascular Institute and Center for Cardiovascular Health
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Hypertension White Coat Hypertension
White coat hypertension affects about 20 percent of people with mild hypertension, and it is slightly commoner in women than men. It is also more common in older people, but it sometimes occurs in children. During pregnancy it may lead to unnecessary Cesarean sections. People who have it are not necessarily neurotic or anxious. |
any people get nervous when they go to see a doctor, and not surprisingly their blood pressure goes up. Usually this happens less when they go back a second time, but there are some people whose blood pressure continues to be high in the doctor’s office but is normal outside the office. We call this phenomenon "white coat hypertension." The usual definition of white coat hypertension is a clinic or office pressure that is more than 140/90 mmHg, and a daytime blood pressure outside the office that is less than 135/85 mmHg. It is important because if the blood pressure is normal most of the time, it does not damage the heart and other organs, and a number of studies have shown that people with white coat hypertension are at low risk of heart disease and strokes. White coat hypertension is diagnosed by 24-hour ambulatory monitoring, which involves wearing a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours, so that the blood pressure can be recorded during normal daily life. These readings give the best prediction of your risk of future problems from your blood pressure. If white coat hypertension is diagnosed, most doctors do not recommend drug treatment, but it is very important to continue to monitor the blood pressure both in the doctor’s office and outside it. The latter can be done with home monitoring.