title: Hypertension and stress.
abstract: This study explores the relationship of chronic stress to hypertension. The study included 127 hospitalized and 134 outpatients of a stress treatment program and 129 "normal" persons in the general population. All subjects were matched for age, sex, and race. After three days of hospitalization, there was a 17.3% incidence of hypertension in the hospitalized patients when hypertension was defined as blood pressure levels greater than 140/90 mmHg. These data compare with a 5% and 13% incidence of hypertension in the outpatient stress and "normal" groups, respectively. The National Health Survey of 1962 indicated that 18% of the population were hypertensive. Our data indicate that the incidence of hypertension was no greater in a diagnostically established group of hospitalized stress patients than in the less stressed outpatient or an otherwise "normal" group. The frequently expressed notion that tension and chronic stress predispose a population to essential hypertension is not confirmed by this analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ochsner Clinic New Orleans, Louisiana 70121.
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Hudzinski
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Frohlich
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Holloway
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*