Marital support, spousal contact and the course of mild hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
To define marital support (MS) and its correlates in a sample of mild hypertensives where marital adjustment (by Dyadic Adjustment Scale, DAS) was related to 3-year left ventricular mass, a secondary analysis was performed on 103 men and women who underwent 24-h ambulatory BP (ABP) monitoring, M-mode echocardiography and completed psychosocial questionnaires at baseline and 3 years.


RESULTS
MS, defined as the presence of both marital satisfaction and cohesion (upper quartiles of DAS subscales) at baseline, predicted 3-year left ventricular mass (P=.007), which decreased 8% in the MS group and increased 6.26% in the low MS group. The MS group also had lower 24-h diastolic BP over 3 years (P=.016) than the low MS group. Based on the amount of spousal contact during ABP, MS subjects spent much more time together after 3 years than at baseline (P=.008) and compared to the low MS group (P=.027).


CONCLUSIONS
MS, a construct of both the quality and quantity of contact between spouses, was related to improved 3-year outcome in mild hypertension. Prospective clarification of the role of MS in mild hypertension is required.
Baker
Brian
B
University Health Network, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. brian.baker@utoronto.ca
Szalai
John Paul
JP
Paquette
Miney
M
Tobe
Sheldon
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses; D016896:Treatment Outcome