AUTHOR=Katsi Vasiliki , Kallistratos Manolis S. , Kontoangelos Konstantinos , Sakkas Pavlos , Souliotis Kyriakos , Tsioufis Costas , Nihoyannopoulos Petros , Papadimitriou George N. , Tousoulis Dimitris TITLE=Arterial Hypertension and Health-Related Quality of Life JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00270 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00270 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=Purpose

To investigate the effect of awareness of arterial hypertension on quality of life in hypertensive patients in Greece.

Materials and methods

This was a prospective observational study that included 189 aware hypertensive patients on treatment with antihypertensive therapy. Patients were ambulatory men or women ≥18 years old, with diagnosed essential hypertension. The administration and fulfillment of the questionnaires was given at the outpatient hypertensive clinic starting with the SF-36 and continuing with the BDI-I test.

Results

The mean BDI score was 9.9 ± 6.9, and 58, 25, 8.9, and 7.3% were identified as without, with minimal, moderate, and 0.8% with severe depression, respectively. The mean score for physical component summary (PCS-36) was 48.9 ± 7.6, and the mean score for mental component summary (MCS-36) was 46.0 ± 10.6. The stage of hypertension was not an independent predictor for any of the SF-36 dimensions. Dippers had not different levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as compared with non-dippers. LV hypertrophy was associated with lower scores on bodily pain (p < 0.05) and kidney failure was associated with lower scores on general health perception (p < 0.05). Female gender, increased age, and the presence of COPD were independently associated with lower physical and mental health scores (p < 0.05). Score on BDI independently correlated with all dimensions of SF-36, indicating that greater depression levels are associated with lower levels of HRQOL.

Conclusion

The stage as well as awareness of arterial hypertension does not affect physical and mental health. The fact that arterial hypertension per se is not a symptomatic disease may explain these results at least in patients with uncomplicated hypertension.