Psychosocial Factors in Essential Hypertension Recent Epidemiologic and Animal Experimental Evidence1

Bibliographic Data

ID23323797
AuthorsJames P Henry (0000-0003-1942-1369, University of Southern California, corresponding author), John C Cassel (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Year1969
Volume90
Issue3
Pages171-200
Publication date1969-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Epidemiology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9262 • E-ISSN: 1476-6256
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a121062
PMID4899564
OpenAlexW2289173408
LanguageEN
Citations received86

Henry, J. P. (Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif. 90007) and J. C. Cassel. Psychosocial factors in essential hypertension: Recent epidemiologic and animal experimental evidence. Amer. J. Epid., 1969, 90: 171–200.—Recent developments in the epidemiology of essential hypertension permit more emphasis to be placed on the etiologic role of psychosocial stimulation and early experience. Evidence is presented suggesting that obesity and dietary factors such as salt or fat intake may not be as significant in explaining variations in blood pressure levels in different populations as is the organism's perception of events in the social environment. Animal and human studies are cited which indicate that repeated arousal of the defense alarm response may be one important mechanism involved. In man such arousal follows when previously socially-sanctioned patterns of behavior, especially those to which the organism has become adapted during critical early learning periods, can no longer be used to express normal behavioral urges. Difficulties of adaptation, as where there is status ambiguity, may result in years of repeated arousals of vascular, autonomic, and hormonal function due to the organism's perception of certain events as threatening. These, in turn, can lead to progressive and eventually irreversible disturbances such as renal hypertension, heart failure, or cerebrovascular disease.

Arousal · Biology · Blood pressure · Disease · Essential hypertension · Organism · Psychiatry · Psychosocial · Endocrinology · Epidemiology · Health and Lifestyle Studies · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · Sodium Intake and Health · Gerontology