Idiom
white coat hypertension
Meaning
Elevated blood pressure measured by a medical practitioner and deemed to result from the patient's emotional response to the medical environment.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“My blood pressure is high only because of white coat hypertension.”
“I usually experience white coat hypertension when I see a new dentist.”
“The doctor noted that my high reading was likely white coat hypertension, as I felt very nervous in the clinic.”
“The nurse suggested I wear a heart monitor at home to prove that my high office readings are just white coat hypertension.”
“Since your blood pressure drops back to normal once you leave the hospital, you probably have a case of white coat hypertension.”
“Although his home readings remained within a healthy range, the patient exhibited consistent white coat hypertension during every clinical examination due to his underlying anxiety regarding medical settings.”
Examples
simple
“My blood pressure is high only because of white coat hypertension.”
“I usually experience white coat hypertension when I see a new dentist.”
contextual
“The doctor noted that my high reading was likely white coat hypertension, as I felt very nervous in the clinic.”
“The nurse suggested I wear a heart monitor at home to prove that my high office readings are just white coat hypertension.”
“Since your blood pressure drops back to normal once you leave the hospital, you probably have a case of white coat hypertension.”
complex
“Although his home readings remained within a healthy range, the patient exhibited consistent white coat hypertension during every clinical examination due to his underlying anxiety regarding medical settings.”
Origin
From white coat and hypertension, an 18th-century medical term. The compound describes the elevated blood pressure response triggered by the proximity of a practitioner wearing the traditional white clinical garment.
Key words
Related idioms
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