White Coat Hypertension

General or Other | General Practice | White Coat Hypertension (Disease)


Description

Hypertension is considered the most important public health problem in developed countries. If left untreated, complications often can be fatal. Blood pressure increases during exercise as in the case of intense emotional states (e. g. anger).

White coat hypertension is the name given to the very common condition - occurring in up to 20% of patients when presenting for consultation to the medical center. If the measurement is done in normal, home values are normal. This particular type of hypertension is called white coat hypertension but not really considered a true hypertensive disease.

Causes and Risk factors

The explanation lies in the consultation stressor effect on people with higher emotional reactivity. White coat hypertension is known as Isolated office hypertension. A reverse phenomenon was observed i. e. subjects with normal office blood pressure (<140/90 mmHg) may have elevated blood pressure at home. This particular type of hypertension was also called masked hypertension or isolated ambulatory hypertension.

Untreated hypertensive disease leads to premature death. The main organs affected are heart, brain and kidneys. These organs usually occur so-called serious complications of hypertensive disease: angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, stroke and renal failure.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Blood pressure is measured using a device called a sphygmomanometer and it is expressed in millimeters of mercury (mmHg).

To establish the correct diagnosis, they have to control systematically for 6 symptoms. Evaluate the oscillating voltage presents those white coat hypertension. This means that when measuring blood pressure are the medical center, some patients have higher values than usual because of emotions, stress. In this case, the precise diagnosis of hypertension needs to be determined, the patient has to measure voltage for 6 weeks, in different times of day and locations (home, friends, the pharmacy, the cabinet). ...