Association between post-traumatic stress disorder and hypertension in Congolese exposed to violence: a case–control study

Background: Numerous risk factors have been involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension. The contribution of psychological factors, including post-traumatic stress disorder, remains largely underexplored, despite their potential role in hypertension. Objectives: We compared the prevalence of trauma, post-traumatic stress and other psychological disorders between hypertensive and normotensive patients from Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo), a 25-year war-exposed city. Methods and measures: In this case–control study, we assessed past traumatic events with the Stressful-Events-Scale, post-traumatic stress disorder through the post-traumatic diagnostic scale, depression and alcohol use disorder through the MINI-International-Neuropsychiatric-Interview, and emotion regulation through the Emotion-Regulation-Questionnaire in 106 hypertensive and 106 normotensive patients, enrolled at the Bukavu General Hospital. Results: Compared with normotensive controls (73% women, age: 43 ± 14 years, BP: 121 ± 10/75 ± 8 mmHg), hypertensive patients (57% women, age: 42 ± 13 years, BP: 141 ± 12/82 ± 7 mmHg, on a median of two antihypertensive drugs) were exposed to more man-made traumas (61 vs. 13%, P 
Source: Journal of Hypertension - Category: Cardiology Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLES Source Type: research