Hypertensive Patients and Normotensive Individuals: Differences in Anger Inventory

Abstract

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a common condition with increasing prevalence rate. Hypertensive patients have a high prevalence of mental disorders, including anger. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the score of anger in hypertensive patients in comparison to the individuals with normal blood pressure in Shiraz. Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 100 patients with HTN and 107 normal controls with the mean age of 52.48 and 53.78 years, respectively. These patients had referred to Shiraz HTN clinic in 2013. All the patients completed the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI) and the results were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software, 2010. Results: The participants were matched regarding age and other demographic factors which might have influenced HTN. Distributions of these factors were partly similar and the differences were not significant. The HTN group obtained higher scores in all dimensions. Besides, the differences were significant in all subscales, except for anger. Conclusions: In line with the previous researches, the present study indicated that high level of aggression was correlated to high blood pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to have psychological interventions along with other interventions for hypertensive patients. Overall, this research confirmed biopsycho approach to psychosomatic diseases.