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Table 5 Prevalence of true hypertension (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg or use of BP drugs), awareness of hypertension and BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg by the occurrence of stressor exposures and psychological distress evaluated by the faces scale (N = 1484)

From: Stressful life events and current psychological distress are associated with self-reported hypertension but not with true hypertension: results from a cross-sectional population-based study

Characteristics

 

N

True hypertension*

N = 600 (40.4%)

P

Awareness of hypertension

N = 489 (33%)

P

BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg

N = 394 (26.5%)

P

Any event

No

913

404 (44.2)

< 0.01

317 (34.7)

0.07

267 (29.2)

< 0.01

 

Yes

571

196 (34.3)

 

172 (30.1)

 

127 (22.2)

 

Any death

No

1270

495 (39.0)

< 0.01

404 (31.8)

0.02

328 (25.8)

0.12

 

Yes

214

105 (49.1)

 

85 (39.7)

 

66 (30.8)

 

Major illness

No

1335

548 (41.0)

0.15

438 (32.8)

0.73

362 (27.1)

0.14

 

Yes

32

52 (34.9)

 

51 (34.2)

 

32 (21.5)

 

Loss of job

No

1339

569 (42.5)

< 0.01

459 (34.3)

< 0.01

373 (27.9)

< 0.01

 

Yes

145

31 (21.4)

 

30 (20.7)

 

21 (14.5)

 

Death in the family

No

1341

531 (39.6)

0.05

433 (32.3)

0.10

349 (26)

0.16

 

Yes

143

69 (48.3)

 

56 (39.2)

 

45 (31.5)

 

Divorce

No

1394

583 (41.8)

< 0.01

473 (33.9)

< 0.01

382 (27.4)

< 0.01

 

Yes

90

17 (18.9)

 

16 (17.8)

 

12 (13.3)

 

Severe accident

No

1413

576 (40.8)

0.24

472 (33.4)

0.10

378 (26.8)

0.43

 

Yes

71

24 (33.8)

 

17 (23.9)

 

16 (22.5)

 

Friend death

No

1416

563 (39.8)

< 0.01

459 (32.4)

0.05

372 (26.3)

0.27

 

Yes

68

37 (54.4)

 

30 (44.1)

 

22 (32.4)

 

Violence

No

1443

592 (41.0)

< 0.01

480 (33.3)

0.13

389 (27)

0.04

 

Yes

41

8 (19.5)

 

9 (22.0)

 

5 (12.2)

 

Migration

No

1450

594 (41.0)

< 0.01

482 (33.2)

0.12

390 (26.9)

0.05

 

Yes

34

6 (17.6)

 

7 (20.6)

 

4 (11.8)

 

Death of spouse

No

1470

595 (40.5)

0.72

485 (33.1)

0.73

390 (26.5)

0.86

 

Yes

14

5 (35.7)

 

4 (28.6)

 

4 (26.5)

 

Faces

   

0.03**

 

< 0.01**

 

0.92**

Extremely content

 

259

112 (43.2)

 

85 (32.8)

 

79 (30.5)

 

Very content

 

458

160 (34.9)

 

123 (26.9)

 

108 (23.6)

 

Content

 

377

156 (41.4)

 

123 (32.6)

 

104 (27.6)

 

Neutral

 

159

62 (39.0)

 

54 (34.05)

 

41 (25.8)

 

Discontent

 

114

52 (45.6)

 

45 (39.5)

 

28 (24.6)

 

Very discontent

 

57

24 (42.1)

 

25 (43.9)

 

17 (29.8)

 

Extremely discontent

 

60

34 (56.7)

 

34 (56.7)

 

17 (28.3)

 
  1. * Includes individuals aware of diagnosis with uncontrolled BP and individuals unaware of the diagnosis
  2. ** P for linear trend