Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of the psychological background on the changes in blood pressure. This was achieved by analyzing the psychological state of the patients, such as anxiety and displeasure, at the time of taking a preliminary impression of the upper jaw.
The subjects were 17 elderly patients who reported in interviews that they had no or diseases of the circulatory system. Blood pressure was measured by tonometry using a non-invasive continuous blood pressure-measuring apparatus. The anxiety and displeasure levels were determined using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Visual analogue scale (VAS), respectively. The procedures of the examination were as follows. First, a STAI examination (trait anxiety, state anxiety) and a VAS examination were conducted. Then after confirming that the blood pressure was stable, a preliminary impression of the upper jaw was performed. Finaly the STAI (state anxiety) and the VAS examinations were performed again.
Analysis of the psychological background and increases in blood pressure gave the following results.
1. The increase in blood pressure at the time of the preliminary impression taking was not correlated with the class of state anxiety before and after impression taking, but it was significantly correlated with the class of trait anxiety. There was a significant difference in the increase in blood pressure between class III (normal) and class IV (high) of the trait anxiety.
2. The increase in blood pressure at the time of preliminary impression taking was not correlated with the decrease in the VAS value and the decrease in the anxietylevel, but it was significantly correlated with the VAS values before and after impression taking.
These results indicated that the changes in blood pressure at the time of preliminary impression taking were affected by the characteristics of subjects represented by trait anxiety and psychological background.
