RT Journal
A1 Pickering TG, James GD, Boddie C, Harshfield GA, Blank S, Laragh JH
T1 HOw common is white coat hypertension?
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1988
FD January 8
VO 259
IS 2
SP 225
OP 228
DO 10.1001/jama.1988.03720020027031
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1988.03720020027031
AB Twenty-one percent of 292 patients with untreated borderline hypertension (clinic diastolic blood pressures persistently between 90 and 104 mm Hg) were found to have normal daytime ambulatory pressures (defined from a population of normotensive subjects). These patients were defined as having "white coat" hypertension, and they were more likely to be female and younger, to weigh less, and to be more recently diagnosed than patients whose pressure was elevated both in the clinic and during ambulatory monitoring. Patients with white coat hypertension did not show a generalized increase of blood pressure lability, nor an exaggerated pressor response while at work. The phenomenon is more pronounced when blood pressure is measured by a physician than by a technician. In such patients, the pressor response may be relatively specific to the physician's office and lead to significant misclassification of hypertension.(JAMA 1988;259:225-228)