title: The influence of hypertension on quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Systemic Hypertension (SH) is a major cardiovascular risk factor with a high prevalence in almost all countries. Studies show the negative effect of SH on health-related quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the quality of life of hypertensive patients when compared with the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 333 individuals of both genders and older than 18 years were evaluated; they were divided into the Study Group, consisting of 246 hypertensive patients undergoing treatment in a multidisciplinary service and the Control group, comprised of 87 normotensive individuals from the community. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the SF-36 for quality of life assessment were administered to both groups. The Chi-square, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and multivariate analysis were used for the statistical analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS and p values <0.05 were considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The groups were homogeneous for age, gender, ethnicity, educational level and marital status. It was observed that normotensive individuals showed a better health-related quality of life when compared with hypertensive patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although considered to be almost always a clinically silent disease, systemic hypertension impairs the quality of life of patients who suffer from it.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiania, GO, Brasil.
authors.forename: Maria Virgínia de
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Liza Batista
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Siqueira
authors.forename: Ana Luiza Lima
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Paulo César Brandão Veiga
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Jardim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult