Why the study?
Are stressful life events, psychological distress, and alexithymia more prevalent in patients with essential hypertension compared to matched non-hypertensive controls?
Are stressful life events, psychological distress, and alexithymia more prevalent in patients with essential hypertension compared to matched non-hypertensive controls?
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Essential hypertension is significantly associated with prior undesirable life events and alexithymic traits, highlighting a potential psychosomatic component to the disease.
A consecutive unselected series of 20 outpatients suffering from essential hypertension is included in this study. These patients were compared to a control group of 20 patients other than hypertensives, matched for age, sex, marital status, years of schooling, social class and duration of illness. Stressful life events prior to illness onset, psychological distress as measured by SCL-90, and alexithymia were investigated. Patients with hypertension were exposed to undesirable life events before disease onset and exhibited alexithymic traits significantly more than the control group.
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Osti et al. (2010) studied this question.
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