HYPERTENSION - DIAGNOSIS

A person's blood pressure can be affected by many factors, such as acute illness, stress, exercise and smoking. Blood pressure levels also vary continuously throughout the day. Hence, care should be taken to ensure that the pressure readings obtained are that of your usual pressure.


Before you have your blood pressure measured at the doctor's office, try to ensure that:

• You have rested for at least 5 min before a reading is measured,

• You have not consumed caffeine for 4-6 hours

• You have not smoked for at least 2 hours

• You have not eaten or exercised for at least half an hour


The diagnosis of hypertension is not made on the basis of a single measurement. So, you would expect your doctor to ask you to come back for repeat measurements.

(Adapted from Joint National Committee  JNC-7)

There is a role for home blood pressure monitoring, as it can provide measurements of a person's blood pressure at different times throughout the day, and in a more relaxed environment outside a doctor's office. As many as 25% of people suffer from what is known as “White Coat Hypertension”, in which their blood pressures are high only when in the doctor's office, and normal at other times.

If your doctor suspects that you may have secondary hypertension, he may perform some laboratory tests to confirm or rule them out. Baseline tests are also performed, to look for possible complications as well as contributory risk factors for coronary artery disease (in particular, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia).