3 ms·
A one-off doctor visit once a year is not enough but it is often how the diagnosis is made Is that actually so? Around here, the very first thing which each do
by stinos 3y ago
A one-off doctor visit once a year is not enough but it is often how the diagnosis is made
Is that actually so? Around here, the very first thing which each doctor I know off is going to say after a high reading in such one-off visit is exactly your second paragraph, because they are well aware one-off readings cannot be trusted for a diagnosis and are typically higher because of white coat stress and whatnot.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoI can't really speak for other doctors, only for myself. White coat syndrome is extremely common in my experience. The existence of false positives does not make hypertension "overdiagnosed" though, it's still underdiagnosed. There's a legion of people out there with high blood pressure who don't feel a thing. This is why doctors employ high sensitivity testing for every single patient: office blood pressure measurements. If you get a normal result, OK. If you get high blood pressure, it could be hypertension so the doctor monitors more closely. Screening works by testing everyone with simple, cheap, fast tests and selecting those with anything that even remotely looks like a positive result for more elaborate and expensive specific tests.