Background: Growing evidence supports the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as predictive factors for incidence of hypertension (HTN) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The two decades war atrocities that occurred during the Lord's Resistance Army conflict in Northern Ugandan left thousands exposed to traumatic experiences and severe stress. This study will investigate hypertension disease burden and associations of war-related traumatic events with blood pressure (BP) trajectory over time among hypertension patients attending HTN treatment in Gulu Regional Referral Hospital (GRRH) Northern Uganda.


Objectives: The study will compare the prevalence of trauma, posttraumatic stress between hypertensive and normotensive patients from Gulu City and surrounding suburbs. Methods and measures: In this case-control study, we assessed past traumatic events with the The Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5) -Interview. [Measurement instrument] Data on blood pressure (BP), anthropometric measurements will be used. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 140 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP of ≥ 90 mm Hg or currently on antihypertensive medication.


Discussion: This study will test the hypothesis that trauma exposure and psychological stress contribute to BP elevation and progression of CVD in this population. It will provide new evidence on the effect of an integrated management, including psychological therapy, on BP and cardiovascular risk. Such approach may be further tested and extrapolated to other populations exposed to war and chronic violence, migrants and refugees around the world.