Medical students have been reported to experience elevated rates of both hypertension and depression. Research indicates a potential two-way relationship, with depression increasing the risk of hypertension and hypertension being linked to higher rates of depression. This study aimed to determine how common hypertension and depression are among medical students and to explore whether depressive symptoms contribute to the presence of hypertension.This study involved medical students from Jordan’s largest medical school. Participants had their blood pressure and heart rate recorded following a standardized protocol. To evaluate depressive symptoms, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was administered. The dataset was first explored using univariate analyses, and factors influencing mean arterial pressure were subsequently examined through linear regression modeling. The study included 354 medical students with an average age of 21 years. Of these, 196 (55.4%) were female and 158 (44.6%) were male. Among female students, the majority (70.9%) had normal blood pressure, while smaller proportions exhibited elevated BP (3.6%), stage 1 hypertension (22.4%), or stage 2 hypertension (3.1%). In contrast, male students showed lower rates of normal BP (38.0%) and higher rates of elevated BP (17.1%), stage 1 hypertension (34.8%), and stage 2 hypertension (10.1%). Assessment of depressive symptoms revealed that 32.2% of participants had minimal or no depression, 55.6% had mild to moderate depression, and 12.1% had moderately severe to severe depression. Higher depression scores were found to correlate with increased diastolic blood pressure. Our findings indicate a considerable prevalence of both hypertension and depression among the participants. Elevated depression scores were associated with higher diastolic blood pressure. These results underscore the importance of routinely screening hypertensive patients for depression, and conversely, evaluating individuals with depression for hypertension. We also advocate for the implementation of comprehensive screening programs for both conditions in the general population.
