Hyperadrenergic Borderline Hypertension is Characterized by Suppressed Aggression

Abstract

The effect of suppressed aggression on the reactivity of the sympathetic nervous and cardiovascular systems has been investigated in two groups of 24 subjects each with either borderline hypertension or normal blood pressure and no family history of hypertension. Groups were matched for sex and age (18-24 years). Suppressed aggression was defined by the newly standardized Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration test, a projective method assessing the reaction to everyday stress. Responses of blood pressure, heart rate, and venous plasma catecholamines were measured before and during application of mental stressors, using the Stroop color-word conflict test and mental arithmetic. In an analysis of covariance for repeated measures, which eliminates the influence of anxiety, borderline hypertensive subjects with suppressed aggression had significantly higher heart rates and diastolic blood pressures and a greater noradrenaline reactivity than borderline hypertensive subjects without suppressed aggression or normotensive subjects. Suppressed aggression may lead to a hyperadrenergic form of early borderline hypertension and thereby contribute to higher blood pressure.