How do the Psychosocial Factors Affect Blood Pressure in Patients with Hypertension? A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Hypertension leads to complications such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and renal failure if not treated appropriately. Blood pressure is influenced by biopsychosocial factors such as physical, environmental, emotional, cognitive and behavioral. The aim of this study is to find the relationship between blood pressure levels of patients with hypertension and sociodemographic characteristics, traumatic life events and depression status. Method: Our sample was 305 hypertensives visiting a family physician in Rize, a city in the Black Sea (Northern part) Region of Turkey. The study was completed between December 2017 to April 2018. Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire including questions for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, psychiatric complaints traumatic life events, and blood pressure control. Depression status was assessed using The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). Data as analyzed using the SPSS 21 statistical analysis program. Results: Of the participants, 54.0% (n = 165) had psychiatric complaints, 52.5% (n = 160) had traumatic life events, and 37.7% (n = 115) stated that they had controlled blood pressure. Blood pressure levels were significantly related with psychiatric complaints, life events, HAD-Anxiety (HAD-A) and HAD-Depression (HAD-D) scores (p = 0.001, p = 0.000, p = 0.001, p = 0.002, respectively). There was reverse relationship between blood pressure levels and monthly household income (p = 0.03). Conclusion: It is harder to have controlled blood pressure for hypertensives in the presence of traumatic life events, psychiatric complaints, higher HAD-A and HAD-D scores, compared to hypertensives with none of these. Psychosocial factors should be questioned in hypertensives when especially blood pressure cannot control.