Assessment of health-related quality of life among hypertensive patients: A cross-sectional study from Palestine

Aim: The ability to identify indicators of poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is crucial for both improving clinical care and determining targets of intervention for the prevention and treatment of disease. The main objectives of this study were to assess the HRQoL profile of the hypertensive population from Palestine, and to determine the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics associated with poor HRQoL. Subject and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted, adopting the EuroQoL-5 Dimensions scale (EQ-5D-5 L) for the assessment of HRQoL. Hypertensive patients attending outpatients' clinics at Al-Makhfyah primary health care clinic and from Alwatani Hospital, Nablus, Palestine were approached for study. Results: Four hundred and ten hypertensive patients were enrolled in the study. Of these, 213 patients (52%) were female. The average age of the study population was 58.38± 10.65 years. HRQoL was good, with a mean EQ-5D-5 L index value and EQ visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) score of 0.80±0.16 and 74.1±15.6 respectively. There was a significant positive correlation (r =0.56; p <0.001) between the EQ-5D-5 L index values and the reported EQ-VAS scores. A significant difference in EQ-5D-5 L index values was found among participants when grouped according to age, occupation, marital status, income, educational level, duration of disease, total number of chronic diseases, and total number of medications (Kruskal-Wallis test; p-value<0.05), as well as gender and therapy type (Mann-Whitney test, p-value<0.05). Conclusions: This study highlighted that specific sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics of hypertensive patients as well as treatment factors were strongly associated with HRQoL. The study findings could be helpful in clinical practice, mainly in the early treatment of hypertensive patients, at a point where improving HRQoL is still possible. © Springer-Verlag 2014.