What are “White Coat Hypertension,” “Masked Hypertension” and “Morning Hypertension”?

What are “White Coat Hypertension,” “Masked Hypertension” and “Morning Hypertension”?

“White Coat Hypertension” means that when you go to the doctors’ office, the stress of just being there might cause a false reading. “White Coat” refers to the white coats often worn by doctors. It’s estimated that for up to 25% of people, their doctors’ office blood pressure is higher than it is normally. For many people, this can lead to a misdiagnosis and needless and potentially harmful medication.

The opposite of this is “Masked Hypertension” – this is when your blood pressure is normal at the doctor, but you have dangerous spikes throughout the day. This has the potential of a missed diagnosis and thinking everything is OK when it’s not.

A third concept related to this is “Morning Hypertension” – this is high blood pressure, but only when you wake up.

Part of the problem with diagnosing hypertension properly is that a single reading is just a small snapshot of the big picture – blood pressure tends to fluctuate throughout the day.

Two ways to prevent “White Coat Hypertension” are 1) to have automated blood pressure readings taken over 15 to 20 minutes in a quiet part of the doctors’ office, and 2) to do some Guided Breathing before the reading to calm down.

“Masked Hypertension” by definition happens outside the doctors’ office. The only way to catch it is by vigilance on the part of the patient by using a self-check blood pressure monitor.

The same is true for “Morning Hypertension” – really the only way to catch it is to use a home blood pressure monitor when you wake up.

It’s important to note that blood pressure spikes at any time of day – even at the doctors’ office, are thought to be potential warning signs of blood pressure issues down the road. Elevated blood pressure at any time or place is an indication to especially keep an eye on things.

Millions of people don’t have high blood pressure and are needlessly medicated. Millions more have high blood pressure but don’t know it either because they haven’t been tested or they were misdiagnosed from a single low reading.

A small investment in a home monitor can help prevent the unnecessary harm of a misdiagnosis – both in the form of needless medication or from doing nothing when there’s really a problem.

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