Objective: Despite all progress made in understanding and treating systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), the study of the impact of psychological disorders in SAH is still controversial and is not well understood. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that SAH can be associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms and to verify its effect on the quality of life.
Method: A controlled cross-sectional study included 302 patients (152 hypertensive and 150 normotensive) outpatients at Hospital São Lucas of PUC-RS. Measurements were made in individual interviews and included data collection and application of general scales such as State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Medical Outcome Study Short Form, General Health Survey (SF-36).
Results: Anxiety was significantly associated with SAH only after adjusted for relevant risk factors (odds ratio (OR) = 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.55 to 5.18). Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with SAH (OR) = 4.34 (95% CI: 2.34 to 8.06). A significant association between quality of life and SAH were also found. However, this association diminished after adjusted for BDI and STAI. This shows the effect of depressive symptoms, in particular, and anxiety, in the worsening of quality of life.
Conclusions: This study suggested that anxiety, especially depressive symptoms, are significantly associated with SAH and had a significant effect on hypertensive patients' worse quality of life.