White coat hypertension

White coat hypertension
Other namesWhite coat syndrome
A white coat and scrubs

White coat hypertension (WHT), also known as white coat syndrome, is a form of labile hypertension[1] in which people exhibit a blood pressure level above the normal range in a clinical setting, although they do not exhibit it in other settings.[2] It is believed that the phenomenon is due to anxiety experienced during a clinic visit.[3] The patient's daytime ambulatory blood pressure is used as a reference as it takes into account ordinary levels of daily stress.

Masked hypertension (MH) is the contrasting phenomenon, whereby a patient's blood pressure is above the normal range during daily living but not in a clinic setting.[4]

  1. ^ Mann, Samuel J. (2009). "The Clinical Spectrum of Labile Hypertension: A Management Dilemma". The Journal of Clinical Hypertension. 11 (9): 491–497. doi:10.1111/j.1751-7176.2009.00155.x. PMC 8673041. PMID 19751461. S2CID 9378265.
  2. ^ "Hypertension: Overview". eMedicine. 9 November 2022.
  3. ^ Swan, Norman (20 June 2010). Health Minutes - Hypertension. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  4. ^ Pickering TG, Eguchi K, Kario K (June 2007). "Masked hypertension: a review" (–). Hypertens. Res. 30 (6): 479–88. doi:10.1291/hypres.30.479. PMID 17664850.