Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Essential Hypertension: A Case-Control Study
Relationship of ACE with Essential Hypertension
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63175/tjts.10Keywords:
Adverse Childhood Experiences, Childhood, Hypertension, Stress, TraumaAbstract
Background: The mental and physical impacts of adverse childhood experiences persist into adulthood, highlighting their long-term consequences. These physical effects are attributed to psychobiological processes, including anxiety, depression, stress, anger, sleep disorders , which influence inflammatory pathways. In the present study, it was aimed to compare the adverse childhood experiences of essential hypertension (HT) patients with healthy controls.
Methods: The sample of the current study consists of 200 participants, including 100 HT patients who applied to cardiology outpatient clinics and 100 healthy controls. HT was defined in accordance with the European Society Of Cardiology guideline. The sociodemographic data form and Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire were applied to the participants who volunteered to participate in the study after obtaining their consent.
Results: The mean age of the participants included in the study was 51.55±8.90 years and 78.5% were women. There was no statistically significant difference in age, gender, marital status, income level, height and weight variables between the healthy control group and HT patients (p>0.05). Body Mass Index (t=-2.558, df=198, p=0.011) and ACE-Q (t=-2.609, df=198, 0.010) scores of HT group were found to be statistically significantly higher than healthy controls.
Conclusion: The present study shows that patients with HT are exposed to more adverse childhood experiences compared to healthy volunteers. This result supports studies showing that psychosocial factors may have an effect on the pathogenesis of HT.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Pınar Demir Gündoğmuş, Ersin Doğanözü, Mehmet Rıdvan Varlı, Kübra Özcan Çetin, Tayfun Öz
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We are excited to announce the release of the inaugural issue of the Turkish Journal of Traumatic Stress. As a platform dedicated to advancing research and discussions on trauma-related stress, this first issue brings together insightful articles, reviews, and studies from experts in the field. We invite scholars, practitioners, and researchers to explore the diverse contributions and engage with the emerging knowledge in trauma care and intervention.
