Blood Pressure Drugs Seems Have No Control On White Coat Effect!

Some hypertensive patients who are taking medication do have "white coat effect".

What is "what coat effect"? This is a phenomenon occurs when hypertensive patients tend to have higher blood pressure readings at the doctor's office as compared to readings taken at home.

This was the findings based on a study of 138 treated hypertensive patients (on hypertension medication) and 138 untreated patients (not on medication). Both groups had their blood pressures measured in the doctor's office and at home using a device that automatically recorded blood pressure readings throughout the day (ambulatory monitoring).

The untreated group of patients tended to have a greater white coat effect than the treated group. Moreover, white coat effect was significant in 27 percent of subjects who were not taking anti-hypertensive drugs compared with 20 percent of subjects on medication to control blood pressure. White coat effect was detected in many of the patients based on home blood pressure monitoring, this method was not as accurate as ambulatory testing.

The results suggested that the white coat effect tends to be reduced in treated hypertensive patients but not eliminated.