Hypertension Awareness and Psychological Distress

There is conflicting evidence regarding the association of hypertension with psychological distress, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. The association may be because of a direct effect of the raised blood pressure, adverse effects of treatment, or the consequences of labeling. In a representative study of 33 105 adults (aged 51.7+/-12.1 years; 45.8% men), we measured levels of psychological distress using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and collected blood pressure, data on history of hypertension diagnosis, and medication usage. Awareness of hypertension was confirmed through a physician diagnosis or the use of antihypertensive medication, and unaware hypertension was defined by elevated clinic blood pressure (systolic/diastolic > or =140/90 mm Hg) without previous treatment or diagnosis. In comparison with normotensive participants, an elevated risk of distress (General Health Questionnaire score > or =4) was observed in aware hypertensive participants (multivariable adjusted odds ratio: 1.57 95% CI: 1.41 to 1.74) but not in unaware hypertensives (odds ratio: 0.91 95% CI: 0.78 to 1.07). Antihypertensive medication and comorbidity were also associated with psychological distress, although this did not explain the greater risk of distress in aware hypertensives. We observed a weak curvilinear association between systolic blood pressure and distress, which suggested that distressed participants were more likely to have low or highly elevated blood pressure. These findings suggest that labeling individuals as hypertensive, rather than having elevated blood pressure, per se, may partially explain the greater levels of distress in patients treated for hypertension.