NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE SEEN IN QUALITY OF LIFE MEASURED BY SF-36 QUESTIONNAIRE BETWEEN PATIENTS WHO REACHED TARGET 24 HOUR BLOOD PRESSURE AND WHO DID NOT

Abstract

Objective: To clarify if a difference is noticed in quality of life between Finnish drug-treated hypertensive patients who reached target daytime systolic and diastolic blood pressure (below 140/90 mmHg) compared to those who did not. Design and method: SF-36 quality of life questionnaire was filled out by 106 hypertensive patients (47 females, 59 males, aged 66.2 (7.5) years). All used at least one antihypertensive agent. 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM) and pulse wave- velocity (PWV) were performed and laboratory tests taken. Sixty-four of the patients reached ABPM daytime systolic and diastolic blood pressure (<140/90 mmHg) and 42 did not. Results: No significant difference was seen between the groups in any SF-36 quality of life parameters (physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role emotional, mental health or the mean of them). The mean 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 142.9 (10.3) mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 79.9 (7.1) mmHg in the patients who did not reach the target and 129.1 (7.7) mmHg and 77.4 (6.1) mmHg in the patients who reached (p = 0.0001). No significant difference was seen in age, weight, waist-hip ratio, carotid-femoral PWV, lipid values, GHbA1c or serum creatinine. Carotid-femoral PWV was 11.8 (3.8) and 11.5 (2.9) m/s. The mean (SD) of the eight SF-36 questionnaire scores was 71.8 (19.1) and 73.3 (19.8) (maximum 100). All SF-36 parameters correlated significantly (p < 0.001) to each other. The high mean of the quality of life parameters correlated in the patients who did not reach the target to male gender, low 24-hour ABPM SBP standard deviation (SD), mean arterial BP SD, low daytime SBP SD and diastolic BP SD and mean BP SD. The high mean of the quality of life parameters correlated in the patients who reached the target to waist-hip ratio, type 1 diabetes mellitus, no change in carotid artery, low carotid-radial PWV and high 24-hour heart rate. Conclusions: The SF-36 scores of the Finnish drug-treated hypertensive patients did not differ markedly between those who reached blood pressure target and those who did not reach.