Childhood traumas and psychosocial characteristics of 50-year-old men with essential hypertension

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to describe childhood traumas and other psychosocial characteristics of middle-aged men with never-treated essential hypertension. Hypertensive (N = 17) and normotensive (N = 18) 50-yr-old men were selected from the Oslo Study of Cardiovascular Diseases based on their age, sex, blood pressure and otherwise healthy condition without chronic medication. They were interviewed semistructurally by a psychiatrist who was unaware of their blood pressure status. Eleven hypertensives and five normotensives (p <0.05) had experienced considerable traumas in childhood, e.g. death of a parent, psychotic parent, separation from one or both parents, or beating by an alcoholic father. The hypertensives had fewer siblings and fewer sons than the normotensives (p <0.05). The normotensives were better educated; 12 had finished at least 12 yr in school as opposed to one hypertensive (p <0.01). The normotensives' parents (p <0.05) and spouses (p <0.001) were better educated than the hypertensives'. The normotensives' yearly income was higher (p <0.05). The hypertensives showed more Type A behaviour patterns (p <0.05) and lower Spielberger State Curiosity (p <0.05). Although the groups were small, they were rigorously characterized. These results therefore suggest that middle-aged men with essential hypertension have more childhood traumas and lower educational and income levels and that these social characteristics are associated with Type A behaviour patterns. The study favours a psychosocial understanding of the pathogenesis of essential hypertension.