High blood pressure is becoming more common in patients who are hospitalized for bipolar disorder, according to findings presented at the American Psychiatric Associations annual meeting. In fact, researchers have found that the younger the patient is, the higher risk they are at for developing the condition.
In an effort to determine the association between high blood pressure and bipolar disorder, investigators observed 99 patients who had hospitalized with the psychiatric condition.
The investigators discovered that individuals who experienced high levels of mania or hyperactivity during hospitalizations also developed high blood pressure. The researchers concluded that when treating bipolar patients, physicians should monitor them more carefully for this health complication.
“There is a large clinical relevance to the finding hypertension could be linked to the severity of bipolar disorders,” said Dale DMello, a psychiatrist at Michigan State University. He added that “there is some similarity to the pathology of the two conditions; they both can be triggered by stress and are tied to the excretion of norepinephrine, a hormone affecting how the brain reacts to stress.”
This research may prove beneficial to bipolar patients, as researchers may be able to avoid medications that can cause high blood pressure, as a recent report in the New York Times stated that one form of antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, has been proven to greatly increase the risk of developing high blood pressure.