Connection between Mental Disorders and Hypertension in Patients Treated at the Psychiatric Clinic, Clinical Hospital Centre Osijek

Abstract

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the type and frequency of psychiatric disorders associated with hypertension and to identify sociodemographic specifics and other comorbid diseases.

Materials and Methods: This was retrospective study to establish if there was a relationship between mental disorders and hypertension in patients hospitalized at the Department of Psychiatry from January 1, 2020 to August 15, 2021.  Different mental disorders were correlated with hypertension comorbidity, with the emphasis on disease duration, mental disorder characteristics, diagnostic category such as age and gender, and other comorbidities.  

Results: The study included data from 800 patients hospitalized at the Department of Acute and Biological Psychiatry and the Department of Integrative Psychiatry at the Psychiatry Clinic of the University Hospital Center Osijek. All of them were treated for various mental disorders in the period from January 1, 2020 to August 15, 2021. Special emphasis was placed on the patients who had been diagnosed with a mental disorder and hypertension in order to determine how many patients treated for a mental disorder also suffer from hypertension. The research shows that 230 (28.75%) out of 800 patients suffer from both a mental disorder and hypertension.

Conclusions: The study has shown that almost one third of the respondents treated at the Psychiatry Clinic for a certain period of time suffer from hypertension. The majority of hypertensive patients were treated for recurrent depressive disorder, alcohol addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder.