Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension are chronic diseases whose prevalence is increasing globally. Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in diabetes and hypertension, and lifestyle and clinical risk factor do not fully account for the link between the conditions.
Objective: This study provides an overview of the evidences concerning the role of stressful life events as contributors of increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension in the population.
Material and Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study comprising of 80 random cases of newly detected type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Strength of association with the outcome endurance of diabetes mellitus and hypertension with stress levels grouped as slight risk, moderate risk and at risk was evaluated and reported as RR (relative risk) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) x^2 used for trend, p-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Strong association found between exposure to stress and development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (RR=1.51, 95% CI=1.09-2.10) (p=0.02). A positive linear trend was observed between hypertension and stress. For SBP (x^2 for trend=18.5, df=2, p=0.0001 highly significant). DBP 7 times more risk of developing hypertension (RR=7.36, 95% CI=1.27-4.94), p=0.0006 (highly significant).
Conclusion: Strong association was found between stress and development of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In hypertensive's a positive linear trend was seen between the two variables. In the diabetics, the relative risk with stress was 1.5 times. Stressful life events increase the risk of developing Type2 diabetes and hypertension.
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