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letter
. 1988 Mar;80(3):289–294.

The Relationship of Isolated Sleep Paralysis and Panic Disorder to Hypertension

Carl C Bell, Carolyn J Hildreth, Esther J Jenkins, Cynthia Carter
PMCID: PMC2625632  PMID: 3351970

Abstract

An hypothesis is proposed that there exists a subgroup of African-American hypertensive patients whose hypertension could have been prevented by the early detection and treatment of easily recognizable symptoms that signal the initiation of the pathophysiologic processes that lead to essential hypertension.

A pilot study of 31 patients with elevated blood pressure revealed that 41.9 percent had isolated sleep paralysis, 35.5 percent had panic attacks, and 9.7 percent had panic disorder. These proposed hyperadrenergic phenomena may be related to the development of hypertension in certain individuals.

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Selected References

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