Resumen de Low blood pressure and antihypertensive treatment are independently associated with physical and mental health status in patients with arterial disease: the SMART study

M. Müller, H.M. Jochemsen, Frank L. J. Visseren, A.M. Grool, L. J. Launer, Y. van der Graaf, Mirjam I. Geerlings

• Objective To investigate the independent effects of antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure (BP) levels on physical and mental health status in patients with arterial disease.

  Design and setting Cross-sectional analyses were conducted within the single-centre Secondary Manifestations of ARTerial disease (SMART) study, in a hospital care setting.

  Subjects A total of 5877 patients (mean age 57 years) with symptomatic and asymptomatic arterial disease underwent standardized vascular screening.

  Main outcome measure The primary outcome was self-rated physical and mental health assessed using the 36-item short-form health survey.

  Results In the total population, antihypertensive drug use and increased intensity of antihypertensive treatment were associated with poorer health status independent of important confounders including BP levels; adjusted mean differences [95% confidence interval (CI)] in physical and mental health between n = 0 and n ≥ 3 antihypertensives were −1.2 (−2.1; −0.3) and −3.5 (−4.4; −2.6), respectively. Furthermore, both lower systolic and lower diastolic BP levels were related to poorer physical and mental health status independent of antihypertensive treatment. Mean differences (95% CI) in physical and mental health status per SD decrease in systolic BP were −0.56 (−0.84; −0.27) and −0.32 (−0.61; −0.03) and per SD decrease in diastolic BP were −0.50 (−0.78; −0.23) and −0.08 (−0.36; 0.20), respectively. The association between low BP and poor health status was particularly present in patients with coronary artery disease.