title: Psychological factors associated with poor hypertension control: differences in personality and stress between patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension.
abstract: Only one-third of patients with hypertension under pharmacological treatment achieve the recommended blood pressure goals. Psychological factors could partially account for poor hypertension control through the existence of personality traits related to treatment compliance (e.g., self-discipline, deliberation, impulsiveness), and the fact that stress and some personality traits (e.g., anxiety, depression, anger expression, Type A) are involved in the etiology of some hypertension cases. This study was aimed at examining the differences in personality and stress between patients taking antihypertensive medications with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension. Results revealed that after controlling sex, age, and traditional variables associated with poor hypertension control, the uncontrolled hypertension group showed higher scores on impulsiveness, depression, anger expression-out, and stress, with differences ranging between medium and large (Hedges' g effect size = 0.77 to 1.08). These results support the hypothesized relationship between psychological factors and poor hypertension control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality, Assessment and Clinical Psychology Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. jsanz@psi.ucm.es
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.forename: María Paz
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: García-Vera
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fortún
authors.forename: Inés
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Magán
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Segura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents