The Quality of Life of Patients With Hypertension

Abstract

The authors evaluated the self-reported quality of life in patients with systemic arterial hypertension and assessed whether clinicians and normotensive respondents from the general public appreciate the impact that hypertension has on health-related quality of life. A quality-of-life questionnaire was completed by 385 individuals: persons with hypertension (n=188), normotensive persons (n=148), and clinicians (n=49). A utility score, which represents one's self-perceived health-related quality of life, was generated for each group by using standardized time tradeoff questionnaires. Quality of life with hypertension was judged to be significantly higher according to affected individuals (mean utility score, 0.980), compared with normotensive persons (mean utility score, 0.948) and clinicians (mean utility score, 0.942), who were asked to assume that they had hypertension (p<0.0005). Clinicians and normotensive individuals tend to overemphasize the impact that hypertension has on quality of life, as compared to affected patients. The relatively low impact that hypertensive individuals indicate high blood pressure has on their quality of life may contribute to their lack of compliance with treatment regimens.

An Evaluation of the Effects of an Angiotensin Receptor Blocker on Health‐Related Quality of Life in Patients With High‐Normal Blood Pressure (Prehypertension) in the Trial of Preventing Hypertension (TROPHY)

“…additional studies on how prehypertension can impact hrQL in patients outside of trial settings would further help to characterize the impact of disease on everyday functions. Given the fact that hrQL in hypertension may be affected by the lack of adherence to treatment regimens, 22 it is important to provide programs and/or services to improve adherence, which would ultimately maximize therapeutic benefits. Last, the observed higher BMi in this patient population suggests the importance of early screening and identification of patients at risk for hypertension and the effective management of comorbidities that may affect the development of hypertension and its consequences, as well as hrQL.…”

Cost-effectiveness of pravastatin for primary prevention of coronary artery disease in Japan

“…However, we did change the baseline utility for patients with hypertension to 0.98 (95% CI: 0.971, 0.989). This utility value was derived by time trade-off methods among 188 patients with hypertension [38]. We also changed the utility for healthy person according to the results from Japanese EuroQol study [39].…”

Disparities between ophthalmologists and their patients in estimating quality of life

“…1) [15]. A utility score represents the desirability of a given state of health relative to that of the reference states of death (utility score = 0) and perfect health (utility score = 1); thus, the score represents the respondent's preference for life in a given health state.…”