Are personality traits associated with white-coat and masked hypertension?

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Anxiety and other psychological dispositions are thought to be associated with blood pressure. This study tests whether personality traits have long-term associations with masked and white-coat effects.

METHODS:

A community-based sample of 2838 adults from Sardinia (Italy) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and 7 years later, blood pressure was assessed in the clinic and with ambulatory monitoring. Logistic regressions were used to test whether anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness predicted the white-coat and masked hypertension phenomena. Age, sex, and antihypertensive medication use were tested as moderators.

RESULTS:

Significant interactions were found between personality traits and antihypertensive medications in predicting masked and white-coat effects. Only among those taking antihypertensive medication, higher anxiety was associated with a higher risk of pseudo-resistant hypertension due to white-coat effect (odds ratio 1.39, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.91) and higher conscientiousness was associated with a lower risk of masked uncontrolled hypertension (odds ratio 0.70, 95% confidence interval 0.49-0.99). There were no significant interactions with age or sex.

CONCLUSIONS:

Among those on antihypertensive medications, anxious individuals were more likely to have pseudo-resistant hypertension due to white-coat effect and less conscientious individuals were at increased risk of masked uncontrolled hypertension. Particularly among anxious and less conscientious individuals, ambulatory monitoring may improve the tailoring of pharmacological treatments.

• Authors: Antonio Terracciano, Angelo Scuteri, James Strait, Angelina R Sutin, Osorio Meirelles, Michele Marongiu, Marco Orru, Maria Grazia Pilia, Luigi Ferrucci, Francesco Cucca, David Schlessinger, Edward Lakatta
• Journal: Journal of hypertension (J Hypertens) Vol. 32 Issue 10 Pg. 1987-92; discussion 1992 (Oct 2014) ISSN: 1473-5598 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 25186529 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural)

Chemical References

• Antihypertensive Agents

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Antihypertensive Agents (therapeutic use)
• Blood Pressure (physiology)
• Blood Pressure Determination
• Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory
• Female
• Humans
• Italy (epidemiology)
• Logistic Models
• Male
• Masked Hypertension (epidemiology, psychology)
• Middle Aged
• Odds Ratio
• Personality
• Personality Inventory
• White Coat Hypertension (epidemiology, psychology)