General Anxiety Disorder and Primary Hypertension Is There a Link?

Chronic forms of morbidity, including mental disorders and hypertension, play a dominant role in determining a disease load in the developing world. This article investigates the associations between the diagnoses of primary hypertension and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and the severity of GAD in individuals with primary hypertension. The association of GAD and age, sex, marriage, education level, income, chronic medical conditions, family history of mental disorders, adverse life events, and hypertension was assessed in 470 patients with the diagnosis of primary hypertension. Data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics software version 16. A significant relationship was found between the prevalence of GAD and the following variables: history of mental disorders (p < 0.0001), chronic medical conditions (p < 0.0001), and adverse life events (p < 0.0001). The mean anxiety score was higher among patients with uncontrolled blood pressure, and a significant relationship was observed between the prevalence of GAD and blood pressure (p < 0.0001). Because of the significant association between GAD and primary hypertension, it is recommended that anxiety disorders be considered in patients in whom primary hypertension is not controlled easily. This may lead to more proper control of hypertension while taking fewer antihypertensive medications.

Automated summary

This article investigates the associations between the diagnosis of primary hypertension and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) as well as the severity of GAD in individuals with primary hypertension. The study found significant relationships between the prevalence of GAD and a history of mental disorders, chronic medical conditions, and adverse life events. It also observed a significant relationship between the prevalence of GAD and uncontrolled blood pressure.