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Psychosocial Risk Factors for Hypertension: an Update of the Literature

  • Blood Pressure Monitoring and Management (G Ogedegbe and JA Staessen, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

A growing body of research demonstrates that psychosocial factors play an important role in the development of hypertension. Previous reviews have identified several key factors (i.e., occupational stress) that contribute to the onset of hypertension; however, they are now outdated. In this review, we provide an updated synthesis of the literature from 2010 to April 2014. We identified 21 articles for inclusion in the review, of which there were six categories of psychosocial stressors: occupational stress, personality, mental health, housing instability, social support/isolation, and sleep quality. Sixteen of the studies reported an association between the psychosocial stressor and blood pressure. While several findings were consistent with previous literature, new findings regarding mediating and moderating factors underlying the psychosocial-hypertension association help to untangle inconsistencies reported in the literature. Moreover, sleep quality is a novel additional factor that should undergo further exploration. Areas for future research based on these findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Ms. Karen Yacobucci for her assistance in developing the search strategy for this review. Preparation of this article was supported in part by the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health grants K23 HL098564-01 and K24 HL111315-02. The sponsor had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the findings; in writing the present report; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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Conflict of Interest

Antoinette Schoenthaler, Chinwe Ogedegbe, Gbenga Ogedegbe, and Natasha J. Williams declare no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Healthful Behavior Change, Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, 227 East 30th Street, 6th floor, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Yendelela Cuffee, Natasha J. Williams, Gbenga Ogedegbe & Antoinette Schoenthaler

  2. Emergency Trauma Department, Hackensack University Medical Center, 30 Prospect Avenue, Hackensack, NJ, 07601, USA

    Chinwe Ogedegbe

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  1. Yendelela Cuffee
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  2. Chinwe Ogedegbe
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Correspondence to Antoinette Schoenthaler.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Management

Appendix. Search Strategies

Appendix. Search Strategies

Pubmed

((((((((((hypertension[MeSH Terms]) OR hypertension[Text Word]) OR blood pressure[Text Word]) OR blood pressure[MeSH Terms]) OR hypertension development[Text Word]) OR prehypertension[Text Word]) OR prehypertension[MeSH Terms])) AND (((((risk factors[MeSH Terms]) OR risk[Text Word]) OR risk[MeSH Terms]) OR prognosis[MeSH Terms]) OR prognosis[Text Word])) AND (((((((((((((((((((((((psychology[MeSH Terms]) OR Affective Symptoms/physiopathology*[MeSH Terms]) OR Anxiety/physiopathology[MeSH Terms]) OR depression[MeSH Terms]) OR depression[Text Word]) OR Depression/diagnosis[MeSH Terms]) OR Depression/epidemiology[MeSH Terms]) OR Depression/physiopathology[MeSH Terms]) OR Depression/psychology*[MeSH Terms]) OR emotions[MeSH Terms]) OR emotions[Text Word]) OR Emotions/physiology*[MeSH Terms]) OR mental disorders[Text Word]) OR mental disorders[MeSH Terms]) OR Mental Disorders/diagnosis[MeSH Terms]) OR Mental Disorders/epidemiology[MeSH Terms]) OR Mental Disorders/etiology*[MeSH Terms]) OR mood[Text Word]) OR psychosocial[Text Word]) OR social support[MeSH Terms]) OR stress[Text Word]) OR Stress, Psychological[MeSH Terms]) OR Stress, Physiological[MeSH Terms])) AND (((((Prospective Studies[MeSH Terms]) OR Cohort Studies[MeSH Terms]) OR Followup Studies[MeSH Terms]) OR Longitudinal Studies[MeSH Terms]) AND Cross Sectional Studies[MeSH Terms])

Ovid Medline

exp Hypertension/or hypertension.mp. limit 1 to yr="2010 -Current" blood pressure.mp. or exp Blood Pressure/hypertension development.mp. prehypertension.mp. or exp Prehypertension/1 or 3 or 4 or 5 limit 6 to yr="2010 -Current" 6 and 7 exp Risk Factors/or risk.mp. or exp Risk/prognosis.mp. or exp Prognosis/9 or 10 limit 11 to yr="2010 -Current" 7 and 12 exp Psychology/exp Affective Symptoms/pp [Physiopathology] exp Anxiety/pp [Physiopathology] exp Depression/or depression.mp. exp Depression/di, ep, ph, pp [Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Physiology, Physiopathology] emotions.mp. or exp Emotions/exp Emotions/ph [Physiology] mental disorders.mp. or exp Mental Disorders/exp Mental Disorders/di, ep, et [Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Etiology] mood.mp. psychosocial.mp. or exp Social Support/exp Stress, Psychological/or exp Stress, Physiological/or stress.mp. 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 or 22 or 23 or 24 or 25 limit 26 to yr="2010 -Current" exp Prospective Studies/exp Cohort Studies/exp Follow-Up Studies/exp Longitudinal Studies/exp Cross-Sectional Studies/28 or 29 or 30 or 31 or 32 7 and 12 and 27 and 33 limit 34 to yr="2010 -Current"

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Cuffee, Y., Ogedegbe, C., Williams, N.J. et al. Psychosocial Risk Factors for Hypertension: an Update of the Literature. Curr Hypertens Rep 16, 483 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-014-0483-3

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