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(Best Syndication News) Canadian researchers say that anxiety is related to high blood pressure. Dr. Simon Bacon told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in 2008 that people with anxiety disorders are four times more likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) over one year than those of us who are anxiety free."

Bacon and his colleagues evaluated 185 patients with normal blood pressure over a one year period. The mean age was 58, and 39 percent were women and 61 per cent were men. Of the sample 16 percent had an anxiety disorder and 14 percent had a mood disorder. Mood disorders include major depression, minor depression, and dysthymia.

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is the leading cause of stroke and heart disease and anxiety disorders are among the most common types of mental illness. People with an anxiety disorder experience fear and distress on a nearly daily basis.

"Anxiety can cause increases in your blood pressure and heart rate. If it is persistent, those effects could be damaging," says Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher and spokesperson Dr. Brian Baker.

Anxiety disorders are common, affecting 12 percent of the population, according to Bacon. "And, anxiety disorders are generally twice more common among women than among men," Bacon added.

Bacon found that 4 percent of the participants without anxiety developed high blood pressure while 14 per cent of those who had an anxiety disorder developed high blood pressure.

"It is possible to have both," says Dr. Bacon. "It is very common to be depressed and anxious. But our study separated them out and found - at least over one year - that anxiety is a major culprit in hypertension."

By Marsha Quinn
Best Syndication News Health Writer