Prehipertension: influence of psychological stress in adolescents

The article examines the association between psychological stress (PS) and prehypertension (PH) in 690 adolescents, 260 males and 430 females, whose average age was 15.2 years (SD = 1.5). Their blood pressure (BP) was measured on separate days at school, by the oscillometric method (Dinamap) in a seating position. All of them completed a survey assessing life events and social readjustment (both scales associated with life stressors in adolescence). Participants were classified according to BP levels in prehypertensive (PH) and nog notensive (N). The presence of PS was evaluated as severe stressful life events. The Chi-square test was used to study the association between PS and the presence of PH. The results showed the presence of PH in 9.2% (n = 24) in males and 3.5% (n = 15) in females, while the presence of PS ocurred in 70 males (26.9%) and 155 females (36.0%). When applied to the whole data, the Chi-square statistical test showed no association between PS and the condition of prehypertension [PH with PS = 15 vs. N with PS = 24, (P = 0.42)]. However, when subjects were classified by gender, there was a significant association between PS and PH in female adolescents [PH with PS = 9 vs N with PS = 6 (P = 0.04)]. This result suggests that, at early ages, female adolescents may be more vulnerable than males to PS as a determining factor to the condition of PH.