Anxiety Disorder Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic Causes Deterioration of Blood Pressure Control in Primary Hypertensive Patients

• Published in: Medeniyet medical journal Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 83 - 90
• Main Authors: Celik, Mehmet, Yilmaz, Yusuf, Karagoz, Ali, Kahyaoglu, Muzaffer, Cakmak, Ender Ozgun, Kup, Ayhan, Celik, Fatma Betül, Karaduman, Ahmet, Kulahcioglu, Seyhmus, Izci, Servet, Gecmen, Cetin, Caliskan, Mustafa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Turkey Istanbul Medeniyet University 2021
• Subjects: Original Study; COVID-19; anxiety; pandemic; hypertension
• DOI: 10.5222/MMJ.2021.08364
• ISSN: 2149-2042

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly all over the world and caused anxiety disorders. Recent studies have also shown that the prevalence of depression and anxiety increased during the COVID-19 outbreak. We aimed to evaluate the anxiety and depression levels during the pandemic and identify the effect of pandemic-related stress on blood pressure (BP) control in primary hypertensive patients. A total of 142 patients with primary hypertension (HT) who continued to use the same antihypertensive drugs before and during the pandemic were included in the study. Twenty-four -hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire were applied to patients. We retrospectively reviewed 24-h ABPM records of the same patients for the year before the pandemic. Daytime, nighttime and 24 -hour-systolic blood pressure (SBP) levels as well as daytime, nighttime, and 24- hour-diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels , were significantly elevated during the COVID-19 outbreak compared to the pre-pandemic period (p<0.001). Higher HADS-A scores (HADS-A ≥7) were significantly associated with much greater increase in BP compared to the patients with lower HADS-A scores. Psychological stress due to the COVID-19 outbreak led to worsening of the regulation of BP in controlled hypertensive patients whose antihypertensive treatments did not change.