The effects of epanolol on quality of life.

The concept of quality of life is used to determine clinically relevant aspects of subjective symptoms and well-being, and refined psychometric instruments are now being developed to assess changes in well-being during pharmacological therapy. In order to evaluate general well-being, subjective symptoms and common side effects during cardiovascular therapy, workers at this hospital have designed a quality of life questionnaire. This consists of a generic section for the evaluation of 3 global aspects of well-being (hedonic tone, activity and relaxation) and a specific symptoms section for assessing 21 common side effects of cardiovascular drugs. The test is based on visual analogue scales. This questionnaire was used in a Swedish subsample (n = 211) of the epanolol versus metoprolol study in patients with stable angina pectoris (VISA 1). In this double-blind crossover study, there were no significant differences between epanolol and metoprolol as regards general well-being with this sample size. The frequency of some specific symptoms (fatigue, sleep disturbances, vivid dreams and cold digits) was somewhat lower during epanolol treatment, but the differences did not attain statistical significance.