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High Blood Pressure: Here's everything you need to know about white coat hypertension
High Blood Pressure aka hypertension is one of the common ailments. Unfortunately, high BP is insidious as the symptoms rarely show up. And that's why it is very vital to keep checking your BP at regular intervals. Genetics, drinking alcohol, smoking, no physical activity, poor eating habits, and obesity among others are some of the causes of high BP.
High Blood Pressure aka hypertension is one of the common ailments. Unfortunately, high BP is insidious as the symptoms rarely show up. And that's why it is very vital to keep checking your BP at regular intervals. Genetics, drinking alcohol, smoking, no physical activity, poor eating habits, and obesity among others are some of the causes of high BP. Speaking of prevention and cure of the same, one should cut down the intake of salt, the inclusion of potassium-rich food items, workout regime and cutting down on caffeine among others. For the unversed, a healthy blood pressure reading is around 120/80 mm Hg and anything above the same is considered high blood pressure. If left untreated, one can suffer other severe complications such as brain issues, heart attack, and stroke.
Today, we are talking about white court hypertension, the same is not that commonly known among people. For the unversed, white coat effect is when your BP is higher when present in a medical setting than when checked at home. So why we have this effect? Talking about the same, our blood pressure keeps changing throughout the day as it keeps reacting to situations. And this effect happens when your BP is about to get tested by a doctor as most of us feel tensed in medical settings. For example, if you are very anxious then your systolic blood pressure can shoot up as high as 30mmHg. This can confuse doctors as they may not be able to get actual levels of BP. And it can be difficult to determine whether you have high BP or just experiencing white coat hypertension.
So, how to know the actual BP reading, one can compare the readings taken in the clinic and the readings that were taken at home. If you are experiencing a white coat effect then you should try and manage anxiety. Ideally one should rest for a while before having your blood pressure measured. Felling relaxed and taking a moment to calm down can help to bring your blood pressure back down to normal.
A study that was led by researchers from Penn Medicine (published in the Annals of Internal Medicine) revealed that patients with untreated white coat hypertension do have a higher risk of heart disease and they are also twice as likely to die from heart disease.
Study's lead author Jordana B. Cohen, MD, MSCE, an assistant professor in the division of Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension and a senior scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics told medicalexpress.com, "Studies suggest that about one in five adults may have white coat hypertension. Our findings underscore the importance of identifying people with this condition." She added, "We believe individuals with isolated in-office hypertension—those who are not taking blood pressure medication—should be closely monitored for the transition to sustained hypertension, or elevated blood pressure both at home and the doctor's office."
