Depression and anxiety levels in patients with hypertension and relationship with blood pressure control: A review of study design for psychiatric intervention protocol

Abstract

Arterial hypertension, anxiety, and depression are common in Western and Eastern medicines, with each offering therapeutic instructions and proposals. Arterial hypertension has been identified as a harmful factor that causing cardiovascular diseases and increasing global mortality. Depression affects over 322 million people worldwide, with an overall incidence of 4.4%. In cases of hypertension, depression is observed in approximately 30% of patients when assessed using questionnaires and in approximately 21% when assessed psychiatrically. Anxiety and depression are risk factors for arterial hypertension. On the contrary, hypertension has been considered to cause anxiety and depressive symptoms. This could be attributed to the direct effects of high blood pressure (BP), side effects of antihypertensive drugs, or psychological reactions to the diagnosis of hypertension. An unhealthy lifestyle increases stress and BP levels. Therefore, controlling stress is a complementary therapy for hypertension. In this context, this study presents a protocol aimed at evaluating stress/depression levels as well as the quality of life in patients with hypertension and examining their correlation with BP control and target organ damage. In addition, we will assess the effect of subsequent psychiatric interventions in hypertensive patients with increased levels of depression/stress on BP control, treatment compliance, and quality of life after a follow-up period of 1 year.

Keywords

Hypertension / Depression / Anxiety / Treatment / Psychiatry

Acknowledgments

None.

Funding

None.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Georgia Balta, Dimitris Tsiachris

Writing - original draft: Georgia Balta, Dimitris Tsiachris

Writing - review & editing: All authors

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Hippokration General Hospital.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data

Not applicable.

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