Blood pressure medications may increase the risk of mood disorders: study

Researchers including one of Indian origin have warned about some commonly prescribed blood pressure medications that may increase the risk of mood disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder.

In the study, that compared four common classes ofantihypertensive drugs and risk of mood disorders, two drugswere associated with an increased risk for mood disorders,while one appears to decrease mood disorder risk, according toSandosh Padmanabhan, Professor at University of Glasgow in the UK.

"Mental health is under-recognised in hypertensionclinical practice, and the possible impact of antihypertensivedrugs on mental health is an area that physicians should beaware of and consider if the treatment of high blood pressureis having a negative impact on their patient's mental health,"Padmanabhan said.

Researchers collected data on 525,046 patients (ages40-80) from two large secondary care Scottish hospitals. They selected 144,066 patients being treated forhypertension with either angiotensin antagonists, betablocker, calcium channel blockers or thiazide diuretics. They were compared to a group of 111,936 patients nottaking any of those drugs.

Researchers followed the patients for five yearsdocumenting hospitalisation for mood disorders, such asdepression or bipolar disorder. After more than 90 days on the antihypertensivemedications, they found that there were 299 hospitaladmissions, predominantly due to major depression, among thepatients studied, at an average 2.3 years after patients beganantihypertensive treatment.

Patients on beta-blockers and calcium antagonists were attwo-fold increased risk of hospital admission for mooddisorder, compared to patients on angiotensin antagonists. Patients on angiotensin antagonists had the lowest riskfor hospitalisation with mood disorders compared to patientson other blood pressure medicines and patients on noantihypertensive therapy.

Those taking thiazide diuretics showed the same risk formood disorders compared to patients taking no antihypertensivemedicines. The presence of co-existing medical conditions increasedthe risk of mood disorders.

These findings suggest that angiotensin-converting enzymeinhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers that are used totreat hypertension may be useful as new or "repurposed"treatments for mood disorders, according to Padmanabhan. The finding was published in the journal Hypertension.