Taking blood pressure medications could increase the risk of depression and other mental health conditions, suggests a study.
-A recent study suggests that patients taking medicines for high blood pressure (anti-hypertensive drugs) were found to be at an increased risk of depression and other mood disorders.
-The study aimed to examine the impact of the anti-hypertensive drugs on mood disorders including depression.
-In the study, the data collected from two major hospitals of Scotland (Western Infirmary and Gartnavel General Hospital) was analyzed and a patient pool of 144,066 patients (aged between 40 to 80 years; of whom 52% were females) was studied.
Out of these, 32,130 people were taking one of four types of drugs to control high blood pressure: beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin antagonists (including ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers) and thiazide diuretics.
-In a five-year span, 299 people were admitted to a hospital because of a mood disorder, predominantly persistent depression (84 percent) but also including bipolar disorder and other mental-health issues.
-It was observed that patients on beta-blockers and calcium antagonists were at a higher risk of developing these disorders as compared to those taking angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin blockers.
-Taking a thiazide diuretic, however, had essentially no effect on risk for mood-disorder hospitalization.
-The researchers are of the opinion that further studies are needed to fully understand the effect of anti-hypertensive medications on mood disorders.
Source: Journal Hypertension