Objectives: To explore the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for hypertensive patients (HBP) and to provide reasonable evidence for evaluating the effectiveness of antihypertensive therapy in clinical practice.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was used to survey 106 patients with HBP and 127 nomotensives using SF-36 short form of quality of life in the community. The cutoff point score of HRQOL was decided by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) Curve analysis. There were 60 patients with BP > or = 160/95 mm Hg who had been treated by antihypertensive drugs for 6 months. Before and after the treatment, their HRQOL was measured and evaluated, and the relationship between the change of HRQOL and antihypertensive effect was evaluated.
Results: Apart from physical function and pain, other 7 domains were significantly lower in the hypertensive group than in the normotensive group, which included social function, role limitations attributed to both physical and emotional problems, mental health, activity or fatigue and overall evaluation of health (P < 0.05-0.001). A cutoff point of HRQOL was decided using ROC analysis in which the 290 score was the best one for diagnostic HRQOL with the sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 70%. The target rate of the antihypertensive care and the improved rate of HRQOL for 60 patients with HBP were 63% and 75% separately for a 6-month treatment.
Conclusion: The HRQOL of these hypertensives was significantly lower than that in the normotensives in the study. The measurement of HRQOL was more useful to evaluate the antihypertensive effectiveness in clinical practice.