title: Psychological stress tasks in the prediction of blood pressure level and need for antihypertensive medication: 9-12 years of follow-up.
abstract: Increased blood pressure (BP) reactivity to subtypes of psychological stimuli may differentially predict the development of future BP elevation or hypertension. The authors present the 9-12-year follow-up results of 82 (86%) of 95 male participants with different BP levels. They were healthy, untreated, and age-matched volunteers from a routine health checkup carried out on all 35-, 40-, and 45-year-olds from a medium-sized city. Intra-arterial systolic blood pressure (SBP) during the psychological tasks improved the prediction of future casual SBP and noninvasive 24-hr ambulatory SBP compared with predictions from casual diagnostic measurements. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was very useful when added to casual DBP in predicting the need for antihypertensive medication. Reactivity to active tasks especially predicts the need for antihypertensive medication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. klmatu@uta.fi
authors.forename: Martti T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Tuomisto
authors.forename: Silja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majahalme
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kähönen
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fredrikson
authors.forename: Väinö
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Turjanmaa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents