Absence of association between depression and hypertension: results of a prospectively designed population-based study.

The objective of this study was to examine the relation between hypertension and depression. In a cross-sectional study of the urban region of a State capital with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, 1174 men and women aged 18-80 years, selected at random from the population, were studied. Blood pressure, hypertension (blood pressure readings >or=140/90 mm Hg or use of blood pressure-lowering agents), risk factors for hypertension and depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition) were investigated in home interviews. The prevalence of major depression and hypertension were 12.4% (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.5-14.3) and 34.7% (95% CI: 32.2-37.4), respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures of individuals with and without a lifetime episode of depression were not different after adjustment for age and gender. Lifetime episodic major depression was not associated with hypertension in bivariate analysis (risk ratios (RR): 0.96, 95% CI: 0.76-1.23) and after adjustment for confounding (RR: 1.15; 95% CI:0.75-1.76). Hypertension and depression were not associated in this free-living population of adults, suggesting that their concomitant occurrence in clinical practice may be ascribed to chance. Journal of Human Hypertension (2006) 20, 434-439. doi:10.1038/sj.jhh.1002017; published online 6 April 2006.