Fatores Que Afetam a Qualidade De Vida Dos Doentes Hipertensos

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease affects both the physical, psychological and social well-being, thereby the need for assess quality of life. Consequently a good treatment of hypertension requires concern about the quality of life of the patient. Aim: To assess the influence of sociodemographic and clinical factors, in the quality of life of patients with hypertension. Methods: We performed an observational, cross-sectional study, in hypertensive patients followed in community pharmacies. Patients were selected at the pharmacy when they bought an antihypertensive drug or measure blood pressure. To each patient was administered a questionnaire evaluating the gender and age, drug sideeffects, duration of hypertension, blood pressure control, co morbidity, daily therapy, as independent variables and quality of life (assessed by HYPER questionnaire) as the dependent variable. Results: The sample consisted of 1876 hypertensive patients (44% men and 56% women) with a mean age of 60.48 ± 2.17 years. The mean duration of hypertension was 10.56 ±9.25 years. The amounts of drugs taken daily were (4.10 ±2.39) and the number of daily doses (2.50 ±1.09) was highly variable. The most frequent co morbidity was high cholesterol (42% of patients). Stand out that 81.3% of the hypertensive patients had blood pressure controlled. A better quality of life was independently predicted by achieving a controlled blood pressure, an absence of drug side effects and fewer drugs consumed per day. Conclusion: The results show the need to get involved in these patients in terms of representations of the disease when they have an impact on their quality of life. An intervention in patients with hypertension is necessary if we want to promote quality and adaptation to the disease.