White Coat Hypertension

White coat hypertension is a phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical setting but not when recorded by themselves at home. It is believed 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.