9. Can I have high blood pressure if I’m young?
Yes. There are more young people with high blood pressure today than there were 20 or 30 years ago, Dr. Giaimo says. That includes children and teenagers, a group that also has shown an uptick in overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes—all of which can contribute, he says.
Many children carry their health problems into young adulthood, Dr. Giaimo says. “The challenge with that group–ages 20 to 35—is that they don’t often seek medical care because they feel healthy. But we could help those patients eat healthier diets and live healthier lifestyles early in life. That would certainly bring down the number of people with high blood pressure or prolong the period of time before they develop it.”
10. Why is my blood pressure always higher in the doctor’s office? Should I check my blood pressure at home?
In the last few years, home blood pressure monitoring has been one of the most important and successful strategies for controlling blood pressure. It’s especially useful for people who have experienced “white coat hypertension,” defined as anxiety in a medical office leading to abnormally high blood pressure that is otherwise normal when measured outside a medical setting.
“There are two other important groups that don’t get as much attention,” Dr. Giaimo says. “One is patients whose blood pressure is high at home and a little bit higher in the office—they have a ‘white coat’ component to their high blood pressure. But, then, there is a smaller but equally important group of people with normal blood pressure in the office and elevated blood pressure at home. We call the latter ‘masked hypertension.’ These are situations where home monitoring can provide better clarity.”