Diastolic blood pressure has been linked to neuroticism

Diastolic blood pressure has been linked to neuroticism

Diastolic blood pressure - the lower of the two numbers in a blood pressure measurement - is likely to cause neurotic personality traits, finds a study published in the open access journal General Psychiatry.

And keeping it under control can help curb neurotic behavior, anxiety, and heart and circulatory disease, the researchers conclude.

High blood pressure is a major risk for cardiovascular disease and is thought to be associated with psychological factors such as anxiety, depression and neuroticism - a personality trait characterized by susceptibility to negative emotions, including anxiety and depression.

But what causes what is not entirely clear.

To find out, the researchers used a technique called Mendelian randomization. It involves using genetic variants as a proxy for a particular risk factor – in this case blood pressure – to obtain genetic evidence to support a causal relationship and reduce the biases inherent in observational studies.

Between 30% and 60% of blood pressure is genetically determined, and over 1000 genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, are associated with it. SNPs help predict a person's response to certain medications, susceptibility to environmental factors, and their risk of developing diseases.

The researchers relied on 8 large-scale study datasets of complete genomic DNA extracted from blood samples from people of predominantly European ancestry (genome-wide association studies).

They applied Mendelian randomization to the 4 characteristics of blood pressure: systolic blood pressure (736,650 samples), diastolic blood pressure (736,650), pulse pressure (systolic minus diastolic blood pressure; 736,650), and hypertension (over 140/90 mm). Hg; 463,010) with 4 psychological states – anxiety (463,010 samples), depressive symptoms (180,866), neuroticism (170,911) and subjective well-being (298,420).

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The analysis found that hypertension and diastolic blood pressure had significant causal effects on neuroticism, but not on anxiety, depressive symptoms or subjective well-being.

But after adjusting for multiple tests, only diastolic blood pressure was significantly associated with neuroticism (over 90%) based on 1074 SNPs.

The researchers acknowledge certain limitations to their findings. For example, it was not possible to completely rule out pleiotropy - where one gene can influence multiple traits. And the results may not be more broadly applicable than people of European descent.

But blood pressure connects the brain and the heart and can thus promote the development of personality traits, they explain.

“Individuals with neuroticism can be sensitive to criticism from others, are often self-critical, and easily develop anxiety, anger, worry, hostility, self-consciousness, and depression.

"Neuroticism is considered a major causative factor in anxiety and mood disorders. People with neuroticism are more likely to experience high psychological distress, which can lead to increased psychological [blood pressure] and cardiovascular disease," they write.

And they suggest: “Appropriate monitoring and control of blood pressure may be beneficial for reducing neuroticism, neuroticism-induced mood disorders and cardiovascular disease.”

Source:

BMJ

Reference:

Cai, L., et al. (2022) Examining genetic causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being. General Psychiatry. doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2022-100877.

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