Coping styles in individuals with different severity of hypertension.

The strategies that usually people adopt to cope with stressful events, namely coping (C) style, may affect blood pressure. Generally, hypertension (H) is positively related to emotion-oriented maladaptive C strategies and negatively related to task-oriented C styles. However, no author investigated the relationship between C strategies and H severity. This study was aimed to assess whether the severity of the cardiovascular health status of the participants is associated with specific C strategies. Participants were recruited at the Center for the Treatment of Hypertension (H) of the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome. Seven hundred sixty-one individuals (M/F: 330/431; mean age: 60.83±11.63 years) agreed to participate in the study (65% of the contacted people). The study took place over the period 2014-15. Participants were split into five groups: 1) healthy people (N=158); 2) individuals with untreated H (N=160); 3) individuals under antihypertensive drug treatment (N=157); 4) individuals with H resistant to drug therapy (N=159); individuals suffering from both H and heart diseases (N=127). To assess the C strategies, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation was used. One-way ANOVAs considering the Group as the independent variable was carried out on each of the C strategies (emotion-oriented C, task-oriented C, avoidance-oriented C). The results showed a significant effect for the task-oriented C (F4,745=4.03; p<.003), indicating that individuals affected by both H and heart diseases make less use of task-oriented C strategies compared to the healthy group (p<.01), the individuals under antihypertensive drug treatment (p<.01), and the group with H resistant to drug therapy (p<.03). These findings confirm the relationship between C and H, underlining how patients with a greater severity of H make less use of appropriate C strategies. These results suggest the importance of implementing interventions aimed at promoting appropriate C strategies in patients with H.