title: The relationship between hypertension and anxiety or depression in Hong Kong Chinese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psychosocial stress can be the cause or the consequence of hypertension.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the association between hypertension and anxiety or depression in adults from Hong Kong, China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with diagnosed hypertension (n=197) were recruited to complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire. The control group comprised 182 normotensive subjects recruited using random telephone numbers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The score in the anxiety subscale (HADS-A) of the HADS correlated with age (r= -0.23, P<0.001) and sex (r=0.11, P=0.042), and was found to be higher in women. The score in the depression subscale (HADS-D) correlated with age (r=0.17, P=0.003) and hypertension (r=0.12, P=0.039), but not with sex (r=0.02, P=0.68). When the control subjects were matched for sex and age with the subjects with hypertension, the mean HADS-A score was 5.51+/-0.41 in 113 hypertensive subjects and 4.38+/-0.39 in 113 normotensive subjects (P=0.047). The mean HADS-D score was 5.56+/-0.39 in the hypertensive and 4.76+/-0.32 in the normotensive subjects (P=0.11). Multiple regression analysis using data from both groups indicated that the HADS-A score was related to the HADS-D score (beta=0.49, P<0.001), age (beta= -0.25, P<0.001) and sex (beta=0.12, P=0.01) (R(2)=0.28), whereas the HADS-D score was related to the HADS-A score (beta=0.48, P<0.001), age (beta=0.30, P<0.001), positive smoking status (beta=0.13, P=0.004) and lack of exercise habit (beta=0.12, P=0.008) (R(2)=0.31). Hypertension was related to waist circumference, history of parental hypertension and age (R(2)=0.38, P<0.001). Anxiety and depression scores were rejected as independent variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hypertension was associated with anxiety but not depression; however, age, history of parental hypertension and central obesity appeared to have a stronger association with hypertension in adults from Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Bernard My
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Thy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Au
authors.forename: Sy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Cm
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Sh
authors.initials: Sh
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Rp
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ws
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Ehf
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sin
authors.forename: My
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Hh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsang