Higher Caregiving Stress Tied to Incident Hypertension

MONDAY, Dec. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Higher caregiving stress among reproductive-age Black women is associated with incident hypertension, according to a study published online Nov. 27 in Hypertension.

Milla Arabadjian, Ph.D., from the New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in Mineola, and colleagues examined the associations of caregiving stress and caregiving for high-needs dependents with incident hypertension among reproductive-age Black women participating in the Jackson Heart Study. The analysis included 453 participants (aged 21 to 44 years with baseline blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg and who were not taking antihypertensive medication).

The researchers found that during a median 7.4 years of follow-up, 43.5 percent of participants developed hypertension. Compared with no or low caregiving stress, participants with moderate or high caregiver stress had a higher incidence of hypertension (40.6 versus 51.7 percent). When adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical factors, health behaviors, and depressive symptoms, higher caregiving stress was associated with incident hypertension (hazard ratio, 1.39). There was no association seen for being a caregiver for a high-needs dependent with incident hypertension.

“Higher caregiving stress among reproductive-age Black women was associated with incident hypertension,” the authors write. “Hypertension prevention approaches for this high-risk population may include caregiving stress management strategies.”

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