Q18. What is the ‘white coat effect?’

A18. This is the name given to the effect whereby people have a higher blood pressure reading in their GP’s surgery than at home. This is often due to the fact that they feel tense or anxious in a medical environment compared to being at home.

Being stressed or anxious beforehand will cause your blood pressure to rise.

Your GP may ask you to undergo 24 hour monitoring at home to see if you have high blood pressure or if this rise is due to anxiety in a medical setting.

This is also known as ‘white coat hypertension’.

Find out more about this in our types of high blood pressure section.

FAQS Index : Guide to High Blood Pressure

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High Blood Pressure FAQs

Blood pressure

1. What is blood pressure?
2. Why is it so important?
3. What is normal blood pressure?
4. What is high blood pressure?
5. What is low blood pressure?

High blood pressure

6. What causes high blood pressure?
7. Can anyone get high blood pressure?
8. How do I know if I have got high blood pressure?
9. Why do older people get high blood pressure?
10. Can kids get high blood pressure?
11. Can teenagers develop high blood pressure?
12. What are the signs of high blood pressure?
13. High blood pressure runs in my family: am I likely to develop it?
14. Why does too much salt cause high blood pressure?
15. Why is high blood pressure such a problem?
16. What is the link between high blood pressure and diabetes?

Diagnosing high blood pressure

17. How often should I have my blood pressure checked?
18. What is the ‘white coat effect?’
19. Is there more than one test for high blood pressure?
20. What is home blood pressure monitoring?
21. What is 24 hour ambulatory monitoring?

Women and high blood pressure

22. Can women get high blood pressure?
23. Does taking ‘the pill’ cause high blood pressure?
24. Does being pregnant increase my chance of high blood pressure?
25. What is ‘pre-eclampsia?’
26. Does HRT cause high blood pressure?

Treatment for high blood pressure

27. How do you treat high blood pressure?
28. What lifestyle changes will I have to make?
29. What types of blood pressure medication are there?
30. Why do some blood pressure medications work better for different ethnicities?
31. Can I prevent high blood pressure?

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