APPLYING STRESS COPING TECHNIQUES ON UNCONTROLLED ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL CONTROLLED TRIAL.

Background: Psychosocial, occupational and economic stress can contribute to development of hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Reduction of stress in addition to usual medical care can improve clinical outcome in essential hypertensive patients. Objectives: To assess the effect of stress coping techniques training sessions for uncontrolled essential hypertensive patients on reducing their self-reported perceived stress. Methodology: A single blinded randomized clinical controlled trial was conducted in Zagazig University internal medicine outpatient clinic on 112 uncontrolled non complicated apparently healthy essential hypertensive patients without comorbidities from 45 to 65 years old randomly allocated into two groups (intervention and control 1:1). Data for this study was collected by social, biological and PSS-10 questionnaires for both groups. The intervention group received health education and training on stress management technique monthly for nine months while patients within control group received classic consultation. The outcome of disease was assessed by measuring change in blood pressure control and perceived stress scores within the two groups. Results: Essential hypertensive patients within both groups reported statistically non-significant high stress scores at the start of the study. By the end of the study, there was a statistically significant difference between both study groups regarding blood pressure control and perceived stress scores where patients within intervention group reported statistically significant improvement in both variables. Conclusion: Addition of training on stress coping techniques to classic consultation visits is more beneficial in reducing perceived stress and improving blood pressure control of essential hypertensive patients.