Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations of Systolic Blood Pressure With Quality of Life and Depressive Mood in Older Adults With Cardiovascular Risk Factors: Results From the Observational DIAST-CHF Study. Issue 5 (June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Herrmann-Lingen, Christoph; Meyer, Thomas; Bosbach, Alexandra; Chavanon, Mira-Lynn; Hassoun, Lina; Edelmann, Frank; Wachter, Rolf
• Is Part Of: Psychosomatic medicine. Volume 80:Issue 5(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-06
• Subjects: antihypertensive medication -- blood pressure -- depression -- mental well-being -- quality of life -- BMI = body mass index -- CHF = chronic heart failure -- DIAST-CHF = Diagnostic Trial on Prevalence and Clinical Course of Diastolic Dysfunction and Heart Failure -- HADS = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale -- LVEF = left ventricular ejection fraction -- SF-36 = Short Form-36 Health Survey; Medicine, Psychosomatic -- Periodicals; 616.0805
• DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000591
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-3174

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Objective: Although diagnosed arterial hypertension and antihypertensive medication usually have an adverse impact on quality of life, recent studies suggest that actual blood pressure may be positively related to better well-being. However, data in older patients with cardiovascular risk factors are lacking, for whom such an association may be of particular relevance. Methods: In 1300 adults aged 50 to 85 years with cardiovascular risk factors (51.5% men, mean age = 65.7 ± 8.2 years) participating in an observational study, we performed standardized measurements of blood pressure and assessed quality of life and depressive symptoms at baseline and 1-year follow-up using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Bivariate analysis demonstrated that systolic blood pressure was associated with higher SF-36 mental component summary scores ( r = 0.100, p < .001) and reduced HADS depression ( r = −0.082, p = .003). Multivariate regression models adjusting for age, sex, and disease severity confirmed that higher systolic blood pressure significantly predicted both better mental quality of life (β = 0.070, p = .012) and less depressive mood (β = −0.083, p = .003) at baseline, independently of antihypertensive medication and diagnosed hypertension. Moreover, the beneficial effects of baseline systolic blood pressure remained stable for both summary components of the SF-36 as well as HADS depression at 1-year follow-up. All results remained unchanged, when limiting the analyses to the 1072 patients with diagnosed hypertension. Conclusions: In older adults with cardiovascular risk factors, higher systolic blood pressure readings are independently related to better quality of life and fewer depressive symptoms in both cross-sectional and longitudinal settings, although the magnitude of the effect sizes is typically small.