Association of psychiatric history with hypertension among adults who present for metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Background: Psychiatric diagnoses are common among adults with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥40 kg/m²) and may be associated with hypertension.

Objectives: To determine the association between lifetime and current psychiatric diagnoses, separately, with hypertension, uncontrolled blood pressure (BP), and systolic BP (SBP) among adults with severe obesity undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS).

Setting: Academic medical center.

Methods: Outcomes were identified from electronic medical records. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed by clinical interview and included any bipolar and related disorder or depressive disorders, anxiety, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders. Adjusted odds ratios for the association between psychiatric diagnoses and hypertension and uncontrolled BP, separately, were calculated using logistic regression. Linear regression was used to determine the association of psychiatric diagnoses with SBP. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, and BMI.

Results: There were 281 participants with mean age of 40.5 years (standard deviation = 10.9) and BMI of 45.9 kg/m² (standard deviation = 6.2). Participants were predominantly women (86.5%) and Black (57.2%). Overall, 44.8% had hypertension and 32.5% of these individuals had uncontrolled BP. The adjusted odds ratios for hypertension was higher (2.95; 95% confidence interval 1.48-5.87) and SBP was greater (3.50 mm Hg; P = .048) among participants with a lifetime diagnosis of anxiety compared with those without. Participants with any current psychiatric diagnosis had a higher SBP compared to those who did not have a current psychiatric diagnosis (3.62 mm Hg; P = .029).

Conclusions: A diagnosis of anxiety during the lifetime of patients undergoing MBS was associated with almost three times increased odds of hypertension.