The risk of metabolic syndrome in patients with arterial hypertension in relation to psychological and biological risk factors

Abstract

Background / Aim. Type of personality and negative emotional reactions could be important for clustering biological risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with arterial hypertension (AH). This study investigates if patients with AH and psychological characteristics of Distress Type of personality with elevated anxiety/depression/aggression, have higher risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) and explored value of the assessed parameters for MS occurrence. Methods. A total of 85 patients with AH were included in the cross-sectional observational study. Type D Scale-14 (DS-14) was used to detect Type D (Distress) personality. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) assessed the levels of anxiety and depression and the Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) was used for assessment of aggression. The explored biological parameters included: blood pressure, lipid status, BMI, occurrence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and MS. Results. Type D patients were frequently more anxious, aggressive and had more frequent MS compared to Non-type D. Type D females were younger, more anxious and had greater prevalence of DM than those from with Non-type D personality. Multivariate analysis revealed that in Type D personality patients with AH, depression had predictive value for MS. Conclusion. The occurrence of both MS and AH were in correlation with Type D personality, anxiety and depression. Early detection/treatment of depression in patients with AH and type D of personality could decrease a risk of metabolic syndrome.