Effects of Stressful Stimuli on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Patients with Essential Hypertension based on Brain/Behavioral System

Abstract

Background and Objectives: There are presumptive relations between psychological and neuropsychological factors and primary hypertension. This study tried to determine the effect of stress stimulus on blood pressure and heart rate in patients with essential hypertension underlying neurophysiological these factors. Materials and Methods: In a case - control study, 50 patients with essential hypertension (25 patients BIS and 25 patients BAS). First, blood pressure and heart rate were recorded as baseline without any stimulus. Then stressful stimuli was induced for each of the subjects after stimuli inducing re-measured blood pressure and heart rate and recorded. Data analysis was performed by descriptive method and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results: The study results showed that stressful stimuli affect the blood pressure and heart rate after stressful stimuli. BIS patients gathered more score in regard to their diastolic blood pressure and heart rate increment than BAS patients. Conclusion: Based on our results we can say that negative emotions in patients with BIS than BAS, patients can experience and these negative emotions can cause hypertension in these patients.