QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH ISOLATED SYSTOLIC HYPERTENSION - BASE-LINE DATA FROM THE SYST-EUR TRIAL

Objective To describe measures of quality of life of elderly patients with isolated systolic hypertension at entry to a placebo-controlled r andomized trial of antihypertensive treatment and to investigate facto rs associated with these. Design Cross-sectional analyses at entry to a randomized controlled trial. Setting Patients attending hypertension clinics or general practitioners' surgeries at 30 centres in 10 Europ ean countries. Patients Six hundred and thirty-one patients aged 60 ye ars or more, with a sitting systolic blood pressure during the run-in phase of 160-219 mmHg, a sitting diastolic blood pressure below 95 mmH g and a standing systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or more. Main out come measures Cognitive function tests (Reitan Trail Making A and B), Brief Assessment Index (a measure of depressed mood) and four subscale s from the Sickness Impact Profile (Ambulation, Social Interaction, Sl eep and Rest and Housework). Results Poor quality of life was generall y associated with increasing age, previous treatment with antihyperten sive drugs, presence of cardiovascular complications and, among women, high diastolic blood pressure, higher consumption of alcohol and high body mass index. Conclusions At entry to the trial there was consider able heterogeneity of patients in terms of measures of quality of life and cognitive performance. It remains to be determined whether these influence subsequent quality of life during randomized treatment, J Hy pertens 16:1117-1124 (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.