Uso de antidepressivos em pacientes deprimidos hipertensos: revisão narrativa de literatura / Use of antidepressants in hypertensive depressed patients: narrative literature review

Abstract

This is a narrative literature review that sought to identify the prevalence and interaction between major depressive disorder (MDD) and systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), as well as the treatment currently used in both diseases in isolation and concomitantly. It also aims to identify possible drug interactions between antidepressants and antihypertensives in addition to analyzing the effects that drugs used to control MDD can cause in hypertensive patients. Therefore, the final objective was to determine the best drugs to use in this situation while avoiding iatrogenesis. The work was carried out through a non-systematic collection of scientific articles guided by the keywords: hypertension, depression, drug interaction and adverse effects. This was sourced from a database of medical studies such as Pubmed and complemented with the latest edition of books suggested by professionals specialising in psychiatry and pharmacology. Finally, the materials selected were read in full and analysed thoroughly. From this we discovered a higher rate of depression in hypertensive patients compared to the general population. Furthermore, the results showed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the safest drugs for the treatment of hypertensive patients with depression. However, it is noteworthy that the use of any antidepressant in hypertensive patients should be carried out through constant monitoring to avoid individual complications.