The contribution of psychological features to the symptoms of treated hypertensive patients

Abstract

Twenty-seven symptoms of 859 treated hypertensive patients were evaluated using a self-administered questionnaire and correlated with the depression (DEP), free-floating anxiety (FFA), phobic anxiety (PHO), obsessionality (OBS) and extraversion (HYS) scores of the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire. The psychological features were associated with 24 of the 27 symptoms, and the extent to which these measurements determined the presence of a symptom was calculated. DEP and FFA were correlated with most of the symptoms, PHO with weak limbs, blurred vision, slow walking pace, nocturia and a lessened interest in sex. HYS was positively associated with the frequency of sexual intercourse in men and negatively with complaints of dyspnoea, tingling in the limbs and a slow walking pace. OBS was only associated with diarrhoea.