An observation into Stress levels in women with hypertension

Abstract

The most common cardiovascular disease is recognized as Hypertension. Approximately, in 30% of world population, the number of hypertensive adults will reach 1.5 billion by 2025. Higher severity and prevalence of hypertension are in elderly women than in elderly men. The present study was undertaken to observe stress levels in women with hypertension. 10 hypertensive and 10 age matched controls were part of the study after obtaining written informed consent. DASS 42 a standard questionnaire was used to assess depression, anxiety and stress. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20.0. Student t test was used to observe significance of difference between the groups. We observed significantly high depression, anxiety and stress levels in females with hypertension when compared with healthy controls. Our study highlights the need of more studies in this area for better understanding of association of stress and hypertension and also to develop better interventions for hypertension.