Q18. What is the ‘white coat effect?’

A18. This is the name given to the effect whereby people have a higher blood pressure reading in their GP’s surgery than at home. This is often due to the fact that they feel tense or anxious in a medical environment compared to being at home.

Being stressed or anxious beforehand will cause your blood pressure to rise.

Your GP may ask you to undergo 24 hour monitoring at home to see if you have high blood pressure or if this rise is due to anxiety in a medical setting.

This is also known as ‘white coat hypertension’.

Find out more about this in our types of high blood pressure section.