Comorbid anxiety disorders are positively associated with prevalent or incident hypertension across geographic regions and age groups, with young adults at higher risk for incident hypertension.
Does anxiety increase the risk of prevalent or incident hypertension?
There is increasing evidence of a positive association between comorbid anxiety and hypertension, potentially driven by autonomic dysfunction and reduced baroreflex sensitivity.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review the most recent literature on the association between comorbid anxiety disorders and hypertension. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent longitudinal and cross-sectional studies across geographic regions and age groups predominantly demonstrate a positive association between comorbid anxiety and prevalent or incident hypertension. Growing research on blood pressure variability and reduced baroreflex sensitivity in response to autonomic dysfunction provides a greater understanding of mechanistic relationships between anxiety and hypertension. Observational studies demonstrate that young adults are at a higher risk for developing incident hypertension after an anxiety diagnosis, supporting longer exposure to alterations in autonomic mechanisms. Confounding relationships of comorbid anxiety with depression likely contribute to prior conflicting results on the association between anxiety and hypertension. There is increasing evidence of a positive association between comorbid anxiety and hypertension. This contemporaneous review supports similar findings in historical studies and provides mechanistic hypotheses for larger, longitudinal studies.
Heather M. Johnson (2019) conducted a review in Anxiety and Hypertension. Anxiety was evaluated on Prevalent or incident hypertension. Comorbid anxiety disorders are positively associated with prevalent or incident hypertension across geographic regions and age groups, with young adults at higher risk for incident hypertension.