Key result
Compared to veterans without either diagnosis, a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD alone was associated with a 29% increased risk of hypertension, while comorbid PTSD and MDD increased the risk by 66%.
Why the study?
The relationship between PTSD and hypertension independent of depression is complicated by diagnostic overlap, necessitating replication and extension of prior findings using Bayesian methods in veterans.
Observational (n=374)
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May warrant hypertension vigilance in veterans with PTSD; extends prior associations yet leaves causality and practice change open.
OBJECTIVE: Kibler et al. (2009) reported that hypertension was related to PTSD independent of depression. These two conditions have significant diagnostic overlap. The present study sought to conceptually replicate this work with a veteran sample, using Bayesian estimation to directly update past results, as well as examine symptom severity scores in relation to hypertension. METHOD: This was a secondary analysis of data obtained from the United States-Veteran Microbiome Project. Lifetime diagnoses of PTSD and major depressive disorder (MDD) were obtained from a structured clinical interview and hypertension diagnoses were extracted from electronic medical records. PTSD and depressive symptom severity were obtained from self-report measures. Logistic regressions with Bayesian estimation were used to estimate the associations between hypertension and (a) psychiatric diagnostic history and (b) symptom severity scores. RESULTS: Compared with veterans without lifetime diagnoses of either disorder, the PTSD-only group was estimated to have a 29% increase in hypertension risk, and the PTSD + MDD group was estimated to have a 66% increase in hypertension risk. Additionally, higher levels of PTSD symptom severity were associated with a higher risk of hypertension. CONCLUSION: PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity are uniquely associated with hypertension, independent of MDD or depressive symptom severity. These results support previous findings that PTSD might be a modifiable risk factor for the prevention and treatment of hypertension. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Reis et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Hypertension, PTSD, and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (n=374). PTSD and MDD diagnosis vs. Veterans without lifetime diagnoses of either PTSD or MDD was evaluated on Risk of hypertension (29% increased risk (RR 1.29), p=>99.9% (posterior probability)). Compared to veterans without either diagnosis, a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD alone was associated with a 29% increased risk of hypertension, while comorbid PTSD and MDD increased the risk by 66%.
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