This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers linked to higher risk for mood disorders
Certain common antihypertension medications affect mood disorders such as major depression and bipolar disorder, according to findings published in Hypertension.
Researchers studied patients being treated for hypertension with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers or thiazide-type diuretics.
“Mental health is under-recognized in hypertension clinical practice, and the possible impact of antihypertensive drugs on mental health is an area that physicians should be aware of and consider if the treatment of high [BP] is having a negative impact on their patient’s mental health,” Sandosh Padmanabhan, MD, PhD, professor at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Scotland, said in a press release.
Researchers collected data from 525,046 patients aged 40 to 80 years from two large hospitals in Scotland. They followed 144,066 patients assigned antihypertensive drugs and 111,936 not assigned those drugs for 5 years.
There were 299 hospital admissions for mood disorders, mostly due to major depression, in the study cohort.
Those assigned RAAS inhibitors such as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers had the lowest risk for admission for a mood disorder. Compared with those assigned RAAS inhibitors, those assigned beta-blockers (HR = 2.11; 95% CI, 1.12-3.98) and those assigned calcium channel blockers (HR = 2.28; 95% CI, 1.13-4.58) had higher risk for admission for a mood disorder, whereas those assigned no antihypertensive drug (HR = 1.63; 95% CI, 0.94-2.82) and those assigned thiazide-type diuretics (HR = 1.56; 95% CI, 0.65-3.73) had similar risk, according to the researchers.
“It is important that these results are validated in independent studies. This is a single-center study, which looked at the risk of the more severe forms of mood disorders requiring hospitalization. It would be important to study the effect of these drugs on minor to modest changes in mood, as these will have an impact on the quality of life among hypertensive patients,” Padmanabhan said in the release. – by Cassie Homer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.