Stressful life events and hypertension

ABSTRACT

Using the Arabic modified version of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, the life events were scored retrospectively in 164 hypertensive patients together with 328 normotensive adult controls attending the urban primary health care units for a period of six months preceding the onset of hypertension for patients and preceding the date of the interview for the control group. Results showed that stressful life events were significantly associated with the development of hypertension. Our findings suggest that psychological stresses might contribute to the onset of hypertension stress-management programs might be helpful, and studies of its utility in hypertensive patients should be encouraged