Association between Cyclothymic Affective Temperament and Age of Onset of Hypertension

Affective temperaments represent a biologically stable core of emotional reactivity and have previously been associated with hypertension and arterial stiffening. The age, when hypertension is initiated, is influenced by different factors, but the role of personality traits in this regard is not clarified yet. Our aim was to study the association between affective temperaments and the age at onset of hypertension. In this cross-sectional study, 353 patients were included. After the evaluation of history, patients completed the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire. We used linear regression analysis to identify predictors of the age of onset of hypertension in the whole cohort and in male and female subpopulations. The independent predictors of the age at onset of hypertension were male sex (B = -4.57 (95% CI = -1.40 to -7.74)), smoking (B = -4.31 (-7.41 to -1.22)), and positive family history (B = -6.84 (-10.22 to -3.45)). In women, cyclothymic temperament score was an independent predictor of the initiation of hypertension (B = -0.83 (-1.54 to -0.12)), while this association was absent in men. Besides traditional factors, cyclothymic affective temperament might contribute to the earlier initiation of hypertension in women.