Vol.:(0123456789) High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention (2019) 26:475–482 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-019-00348-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE Psychosocial Factors and Personality Traits and the Prevalence of Arterial Hypertension Among 35‑ and 55‑Year‑Old Men and Women in Sweden and Estonia: a SWESTONIA Longitudinal Study Sirje Sammul 1,2  · Mats Jensen‑Urstad 3  · Jan Johansson 4  · Hanna Lenhof 5  · Margus Viigimaa 6,7 Received: 11 July 2019 / Accepted: 6 November 2019 / Published online: 18 November 2019 © Italian Society of Hypertension 2019 Abstract Introduction Psychosocial factors infuence the risk of developing hypertension. Personality traits have a modulating efect against the harmful infuences of psychosocial factors. Aim Through a longitudinal clinical study consisting of men and women aged 35 and 55 at the baseline in Estonia and Sweden, to assess the infuence of psychosocial factors and personality traits resulting in arterial hypertension. Methods Data analysis based on the cross-sectional study with 2 assessments over 13 years of a sample comprising 158 individuals from Estonia and 213 individuals from Sweden. The Pearlin Mastery Scale, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Depression Model and Gothenburg Quality of Life Instrument were used. Results Throughout the follow-up period, a higher depressive mood and lower self-assessed quality of life score prevailed among the 35-year-old and 55-year-old Estonians compared with the Swedish study participants (p < 0.001). Among the 55-year-old Estonian study participants with diagnosed hypertension, but not among the Swedish, negative stressful life events had a signifcantly stronger efect (p < 0.001) on the risk of developing hypertension. In addition, lower mastery (p < 0.05) dominated among study participants diagnosed with hypertension. Conclusions The combined efects of psychosocial factors and personality traits are important variables in predicting the risk of developing arterial hypertension. The study results are relevant to clinical practice and provide suggestions for employing successful preventive measures. Keywords Arterial hypertension · Depressive mood · Negative stressful life events · Self-assessed quality of life · Mastery Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-019-00348-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sirje Sammul Sirje.Sammul.001@mail.ee Mats Jensen-Urstad Mats.Jensen-Urstad@ki.se Jan Johansson jjohansson@arterytx.com Hanna Lenhof hanna.lenhof@sll.se Margus Viigimaa Margus.Viigimaa@regionaalhaigla.ee 1 Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia 2 Tartu Health Care College, Nooruse 5, 50411 Tartu, Estonia 3 Department of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, 141 86 Stockholm, Sweden 4 Artery Therapeutics, Inc., Suite A, 10 Dubertstein Drive, San Ramon, CA 94583, USA 5 Division of Cardiology, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institute, South Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden 6 Centre of Cardiology, North Estonia Medical Centre, Tallinn, Estonia 7 Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia