BASE-LINE CORRELATES WITH QUALITY-OF-LIFE AMONG MEN AND WOMEN WITH MEDICATION-CONTROLLED HYPERTENSION - THE TRIAL OF NONPHARMACOLOGIC INTERVENTIONS IN THE ELDERLY (TONE)

OBJECTIVES: To examine Quality of Life (QOL) and its correlates among older adults with medication-controlled hypertension. DESIGN: Baseline data from the TONE clinical trial. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic variable s (age, race, income), hypertension treatment (medication class, years treated), health status (obesity, physical symptoms), and QOL status (MOS-Short-Form 36, Jenkins Sleep Disturbance, and CES-D Depression). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 975 men and women, aged 60 to 81 years and fr ee of major diseases and disability, with a screening blood pressure ( BP) of less than or equal to 145/85 mm Hg, treated medically for hyper tension with antihypertensive medication. RESULTS: On average, TONE pa rticipants reported a QOL level on the SF-36 that was similar to or be tter than that reported by older adults in the general population. How ever, there was a strikingly high prevalence of physical complaints or symptoms: 90.3% of men and 93.3% of women experienced one or more phy sical symptoms or complaints, and nearly 50% reported that such sympto ms had disrupted their daily functioning. Among variables considered, only the physical symptoms index score,number of severe symptoms, and obesity status were correlated consistently with QOL among TONE men an d women. Lower QOL scores were associated with higher symptom scores a nd with obesity. Neither medication class nor age were appreciably ass ociated with QOL status. CONCLUSIONS: Physical symptoms, rather than m edication class and age, were the strongest correlates of QOL in TONE. This underscores the importance of identifying the etiology of sympto ms as a means to improve the QOL of older hypertensive persons rather than substituting medication. The association of poorer physical well- being with obesity suggests that weight reduction to manage BP may als o improve QOL for some individuals.