Quality of life of hypertensive patients and comparison of two instruments of HRQOL measure.

BACKGROUND

Measuring health-related quality of life (QOL) helps evaluating the efficiency of a treatment and identifies problems with major impact on the patient's QOL. However, these measures are safer if assessed by generic and specific instruments together, where it is necessary to check for compatibility between these and avoid repetitions and contradictions between the domains.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the quality of life of hypertensive patients and to evaluate the compatibility of a specific instrument (MINICHAL) and a generic instrument (SF-36).

METHODS

One hundred adult hypertensive under outpatient care were interviewed. The mean HRQOL as measured by MINICHAL was 6.64 (SD 6.04) in mental status and average of 5.03 (SD 4.11) in the state of somatic manifestations. The means for the instrument SF-36 were in ranking order: limitation due to physical aspects 47.3 (SD 42.9), vitality 57.4 (SD 19.7), limitation due to emotional aspects 58 (SD 44.7), functional capacity 58.7 (SD 27.8), pain 60.4 (SD 26.3), general health condition 60.7 (SD 22.7), mental health 66.8 (SD 22.1) and social aspects 78 (SD 26.1).

RESULTS

The MINICHAL significantly correlated (p <0.001) with the SF-36 in all domains.

CONCLUSION

The MINICHAL proved to be a useful tool in the assessment of HRQOL in patients with hypertension.