Introduction Depression is a complex mental illness that has many possible risk factors. Approximately 21 million adults in the United States suffer from major depressive disorder. The comorbidities linked to depression are contributing to an increasing economic burden on the United States. Additionally, there are over 116 million adults in the United States that have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. The association of hypertension with depression found in several studies brings about the idea that blood pressure could be a probable risk factor for depression. Methods An analysis was conducted on secondary data from the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on 4,850 non-institutionalized American adults. Univariate data analyses were used to calculate frequencies and percentages for each participant and chi-square tests were used to evaluate whether an association exists between depression status and high blood pressure diagnosis. Binary logistic regression analyses were run to find the adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios for each variable with a 95% confidence interval. Results Only 9.40% of the sample were classified as having depression. Of those participants diagnosed with high blood pressure, 49.3% suffered from depression. This association between hypertension and depression was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). These findings are consistent with other studies that have found a potential link between hypertension and depression or other anxiety disorders. Conclusion Further research needs to be conducted to determine if hypertension can be considered a risk factor for depression based on the degree of their association.
Authors: Kaitlyn Karhoff & Katie Carene
Advisor: Saruna Ghimire, Sociology and Gerontology
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