Marital cohesion and ambulatory blood pressure in early hypertension

One hundred thirty-four men and seventy-one women, unmedicated mild hypertensives, underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABP) and completed standardized questionnaires measuring marital and job stress. Of these, 44.8% had daytime diastolic BP < 90 mm Hg; 96.1% had left ventricular mass index in the normal range (N = 176). Lower marital cohesion (Cohesion, subscale of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale) was related to elevated nighttime ABP (P ≤ .05) and 24-h diastolic BP (P< .05). With low Cohesion (N = 83), more reported spousal contact was associated with elevated nighttime ABP (P< .031). The 7.3% of subjects with very low Cohesion demonstrated approximately 6 mm Hg elevation of all ABP variables, controlling for other significant variables (P< .05, except for nighttime SBP). This study shows an association between marital cohesion and ABP and suggests that marital factors may have a role in sustaining BP in early hypertension.