Hypertension and depression among medical students: is there an association?

Introduction: Several studies suggested a higher prevalence of hypertension and depression among medical stu-dents. Patients with depression have a higher prevalence of hypertension and vice versa. In this study, we assessed the frequency of hypertension and depression in a sample of medical students and the impact of depression on hypertension.Methods: We recruited medical students from the largest medical school in Jordan. For each participant, we measured blood pressure and heart rate under standardized measurement conditions. Participants were also surveyed using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We performed univariate analysis followed by linear regression analysis of factors affecting mean arterial pressure. Results: 354 medical students were included. The mean age was 21 years. 196 (55.4%) were females and 158 (44.6%) were males. 139 (70.9%) of females had normal blood pressure (BP), 7 (3.6%) had elevated BP, 44 (22.4%) had stage 1 hypertension (HTN), and 6 (3.1%) had stage 2 HTN. Within males: 60 (38.0%) had normal BP, 27 (17.1%) had elevated BP, 55 (34.8%) had stage 1 HTN, and 16 (10.1%) had stage 2 HTN. 114 participants (32.2%) had no or minimal depression, 197 (55.6%) had mild-moderate depression and 43 (12.1%) had moderately severe-severe depression. There was an association between higher depression scores and higher diastolic blood pressure.Conclusion: The frequency of hypertension and depression was notably high in our sample. There was an asso-ciation between higher depression scores and higher diastolic blood pressure. We strongly believe that this as-sociation should encourage us again to screen our hypertensive patients in general for depression and vice versa. We also recommend adopting screening programs for depression and hypertension in general.