Browsing by Subject "hypertensio"

Objective Depression and high blood pressure are becoming more common problems, but their relation remains unclear. This master's thesis studied the relation between depression and high blood pressure in the longitudinal Young Finns Study over a follow-up of four years. The aim was to examine whether 1) baseline depressive symptoms predict blood pressure over the follow-up, 2) the relation between depression and blood pressure differs among men and women, 3) health choices affect the relation, and 4) there is a relation between the duration of depression and blood pressure. Methods The participants (N=909) were about 42 years old, and 61 % of them were women. Their blood pressure and BDI-II depression scores were measured in 2007 ja 2011. Three-step regression analysis was used to predict the systolic and diastolic blood pressure based on the baseline depression score. The first model was controlled for age, gender and baseline blood pressure, the second model also for education and income, and the third model additionally for health choices. The average blood pressures of non-depressed, once depressed and twice depressed participants were compared in analysis of variance. The group comparisons were additionally controlled for age, gender and baseline blood pressure in analysis of covariance. Results and conclusions Baseline depressive symptoms did not predict blood pressure. Among women, a positive relation between depression and blood pressure was found in the first model, but not in the more controlled models. The relation between depression and blood pressure was partly explained by health choices; higher body mass index predicted higher blood pressure. Controlling for age, gender and baseline blood pressure, the duration of depression was connected to higher blood pressure; the diastolic blood pressure was higher, when the participant was depressed both in the beginning and end of the follow-up.