Development of a new specific questionnaire for hypertensive patients

Objective The treatment aim of hypertension is to reduce cardiovascular mor tality and morbidity. Although current available therapies proved to be eff ective in reducing blood pressure, their impact on other relevant patient o utcomes, such as quality of life, have yet to be satisfactorily addressed. To overcome this, we launched a multi-step project to develop a specific qu estionnaire in the Italian setting. Methods The project started with an initial meeting of eight cardiologists, who considered medical aspects of the pathology, and nine regional focus g roups including a total of 137 patients. The resulting questionnaire (45 it ems) was then subjected to a psychometrical evaluation using two different groups (n = 405 and n = 3000). Results Several items showed low item-total correlation, so they were remov ed and a total of 29 items was retained (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). Factor a nalysis showed that three factors correlated: 'emotional well-being: reveal ing that low quality of life status is effectively predicted by items asses sing depression and self-esteem;'daily living activities: revealing individ ual differences in the extent of restriction induced by hypertension; and ' physical functioning: providing precise and extensive evidence of physical constraints. A one-way analysis of variance conducted on the scales of the questionnaires showed significant differences, most evident in the case of systolic blood pressure and number of symptoms. Conclusions Although additional evidence needs to be gathered before encour aging the use of the present questionnaire outside formal research projects , we consider our aim of developing a valid instrument for the assessment o f quality of life in hypertensive patients to have been largely realised, J Hypertens 16 (suppl 9):S35-S40 (C) 1998 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.