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Contributions to the study of the relationship between blood pressure and mental health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

G. Esgalhado  and
A. Louro
G. Esgalhado*
Affiliation:
Psychology And Education, University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal
A. Louro
Affiliation:
Psychology And Education, University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Blood pressure (BP) refers to the pressure that the blood exerts on the walls of blood vessels. There is a number of evidences that show that depression, anxiety, and also stress have a high incidence in people suffering from hypertension.

Objectives

To correlate blood pressure levels with psychopathological symptomatology levels and to compare differences between genders, age and education levels.

Methods

This was a descriptive, inferential and correlational study encompassing 1407 participants, aged from 18 – 89 years of age (average age = 36 years). Measures included biomedical data - systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, arrhythmias and heartbeat, as well as the demographic variables - sex, age and education of the participants; mental health (psychopathological symptomatology) was measured using the Portuguese version of the BSI.

Results

In the present study there were no statistically significant relationships between Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure and General Symptom Index, as well as for each BSI dimension. Nevertheless, statistically significant differences were found between Diastolic Blood Pressure and obsessions-compulsions, interpersonal sensibility and hostility. Also, there are statistically significant differences for BP according to gender and education.

Conclusions

This study brings important contributions to the study of the associations between blood pressure and mental health, with import implications for intervention and prevention.

Keywords

Cardiovascular indicatorsBlood pressuremental healthPsychopathological symptomatology
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S470
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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