title: [Blood pressure monitoring: dangers and traps].
abstract: The measure of blood pressure is probably the the most frequently performed medical act, and the less reliable. The introduction of non invasive recording of ambulatory blood pressure allowed to better define the white coat effect, that is the effect of the presence of a doctor on the blood pressure. White coat hypertension is defined as an abnormal blood pressure in the office and a strictly normal blood pressure outside the medical environment. As such, white coat hypertension is not associated with an increase of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and thus does not justify drug therapy. However, one third of the patients will progress with time to more severe stages of hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Service de Néphrologie-Hypertension, CHU Sart Tilman.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rorive
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dubois
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saint-Remy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011379:Prognosis; D013577:Syndrome
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents