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Health-related quality of life and its demographic, clinical and psychosocial determinants among male patients with hypertension in a Ghanaian tertiary hospital


Vincent Boima
Alberta K. Yeboah
Irene A. Kretchy
Augustina Koduah
Kofi Agyabeng
Ernest Yorke

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among male patients with hyperten-sion and its associated demographic, clinical and psychosocial factors.
Design: This was a facility-based cross-sectional study
Setting: This study was carried out at the outpatient department in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
Participants: Three hundred and fifty-eight hypertensive patients were recruited for this study
Data collection: Information on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical features, insomnia, medication adherence, psychological distress, sexual dysfunction and HRQoL were obtained through patient-reported measures using struc-tured questionnaires and standardised instruments. Statistical analysis/Main outcome measure: The study assessed HRQoL among male hypertensive patients. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the average scores of the various domains of HRQL across the independent vari-ables. Multivariate linear regression models with robust standard errors were used to determine factors associated with quality of life.
Results: Participants with poor perceived overall HRQoL was 14.0%. Comparatively, HRQoL (mean ± SD) was the least in the physical health domain (56.77±14.33) but the highest in the psychological domain (58.7 ± 16.0). Multi-variate linear regression showed that income level, educational level, insomnia, overall satisfaction, sexual desire and medication adherence were significant predictors of HRQoL. Average scores of HRQoL domains reduced with a higher level of sexual desire dysfunction.
Conclusion: HRQoL among male hypertensive patients was negatively affected by insomnia, sexual desire dysfunc-tion, educational level and adherence to antihypertensive medications but positively affected by income level. Clinical practice and policy processes should be directed at these factors to improve HRQoL.


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print ISSN: 0016-9560