WHITE COAT HYPERTENSION

White coat hypertension, also known as white coat syndrome, is a phenomenon in which patients exhibit increased blood pressure in a clinical setting but not otherwise. It is postulated that this is due to the anxiety some people experience during a clinic visit.

As the notion of "normal" is subjective and changes from individual to individual a reference measurement was necessary. As night-time and self measured values are often not subject to daily stress and clinical values are subject to unusual anxiety, daytime ambulatory blood pressure is used as a reference as it takes into account daily stress but not in excess. Due to specificity involved in diagnosis of white coat hypertension, many problems have been incurred in its diagnosis and treatment.

The term "masked hypertension" can be used to describe the contrasting phenomenon, where blood pressure is elevated during daily living, but not in an office setting.