ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY WITH AN IMIDAZOLINE RECEPTOR AGONIST EFFECTS ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF PATIENTS

A postmarketing surveillance study on patients with essential hypertension has been carried out to investigate the efficacy and tolerance of Moxonidine (daily dose: 0.2 mg up to 0.6 mg, duration: 12 weeks). On a subset of 4132 patients there was a questionnaire regarding ''mood'', ''activity'' and ''physical wellbeing'' available, representing the patients' subjective evaluation of their mood and quality of life. Patients with an average initial blood pressure of 175.5/101.3 mmHg showed a slight improvement of quality of life. Male patients up to 40 years and women over 40 years took most profit concerning the factors ''mood'' and ''activity. There were neither correlations with blood pressure nor with its changes. The most remarkable relation of the change in quality of life could be demonstrated with the tolerance of therapy. Patients with ischemic heart diseases in addition to hypertension are clearly impaired in their quality of life.