[Prevalence of anxiety disorders in patients with essential hypertension]. / Prevalencia de trastornos de ansiedad en pacientes con hipertensión arterial esencial.

BACKGROUND: Various studies found a high correlation among anxious symptomatology and hypertension. OBJECTIVES: To determine and to compare prevalence of anxiety disorder among patients with essential hypertension and a control group. METHODS: The structured clinical interview (SCID I) was administered (anxiety disorder module) to 157 people including 57 essential hypertensive patients (non diabetics, without CVA and or other complications) and 100 controls (non hypertensive people that converge to the hospital). RESULTS: We observed a higher frequency of anxiety disorder in the hypertensive group than in the control group (p <0.001).