Association between workplace violence and harassment and hypertension-related outcomes: a scoping review

While workplace violence and harassment (WVH) is a recognized psychosocial stressor affecting cardiovascular health, evidence linking it to hypertension remains fragmented. This scoping review systematically maps the evidence on the associations of WVH with clinical hypertension and continuous blood pressure (BP) levels, with the aim of identifying the primary sources of heterogeneity across the existing literature. Following PRISMA–ScR, 11 databases were searched from inception through March 2026, supplemented by Google Scholar screening and backward citation tracking of eligible studies. Evidence linking WVH to dichotomous hypertension and continuous BP was highly heterogeneous across 28 studies. Among the 25 studies that quantitatively examined these associations, 10 (40.00%) were classified as consistently supportive of a positive association, with directionally concordant findings and no clearly opposing patterns across relevant analyses. The remaining quantitative studies reported mixed findings, no clear association, or consistently inverse estimates. WVH exposure may be associated with hypertension and adverse BP-related outcomes, but heterogeneous findings and methodological limitations preclude causal conclusions. Longitudinal studies with repeated exposure and BP assessments are needed to distinguish acute responses from persistent changes and clarify the implications for occupational hypertension prevention.