Differences in perceived symptoms/quality of life in untreated hypertensive and normotensive men.

To evaluate adverse reactions in the treatment of hypertension correctly, it is important to know the symptom profile of hypertensives per se. In the present study, a random sample of 60-year-old men, untreated for hypertension, was studied. The concept of the quality of life has largely been based on data obtained from the self-recording of subjective symptoms. Subjective symptoms were recorded by means of a self-administered questionnaire, "The Göteborg Quality of Life Instrument", which includes 30 items. Nine of the symptoms were found to be correlated to blood pressure. When the effect of confounding factors, such as smoking habits and situation at work was taken into account, seven symptoms remained. Most of the symptoms that were correlated to blood pressure may be regarded as related to aetiological factors rather than caused by the blood pressure.