Quality of Life among Hypertensive Population Aged 45 Years and Above in Kathmandu Valley: a Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study from Nepal

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is the humongous health issues which is not the disease; it is a medical condition of an individual. Quality of life is a concept used to assess the factors other than illness that are responsible for affecting the health of the people. Prevalence of hypertension has increased in low income countries in recent years while remaining stable or having decreased in high income countries. WHO data have estimated that, by 2030, almost 23.6 million people will die from CVD, mainly from heart disease and stroke. The purpose of this study was to determine and evaluate the various factors influencing the quality of life in a hypertensive population aged 45 years and above in Kathmandu valley.

Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was undertaken. Non probability and convenience technique was used for selecting study area. Cochran formula was used to calculate the sample size taking 2006 based year, having 23% prevalence of hypertension. Descriptive statistics and analytical statistics were used to summarize the characteristics and measured the nature and degree of association between the independent and dependent variable respectively. Statistical tool used include one-way ANOVA, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.

Results: Among collected 300 samples, 55.3 % were male and rests were female. Most people who were suffering from the hypertension were 51-60 and least from 71 and above age group. About 86.7% were the married population, 12% respondents did not have any formal schooling. Of all, 56.3% of the non-smokers and 59% non-alcoholic users were also suffering from the hypertension. About 64% of the respondents did not have any kind of comorbidities, however 20.3% had diabetes. Analytical statistics showed age, income, duration of anti-hypertensive medication; and presence of comorbidities showed the association with the total score of the WHOQL-BREF. However, gender, marital status, caste/ethnicity, education, alcohol consumption and smoking cigarettes showed no association.

Conclusions: From our research finding; hypertensive people need to focus on presence of commodities, the level of the income; and their lifestyle were strongly associated for influencing the quality of life of the hypertension patients.