Abstract
Quality of life (QOL) measures were assessed in a multi-center, double-blind, case-controlled trial of 1 year's duration. A total of 368 hypertensive male patients were randomly assigned to monotherapies of either isradipine, methyldopa or placebo. If normotension was not achieved, captopril was added. QOL assessments in the hypertensives and in 155 normotensives included a self-structured scale to measure the subjective perception of QOL, the severity, desirability and controllability of recent critical life events, semantic memory, physical dysfunction, sleep disorders, sexual difficulties, depression and work-related stress. The overall withdrawal rate during the trial was 19%, mainly due to lack of efficacy and adverse experiences. At baseline, and at the end of the trial, the normotensives as compared to hypertensive patients, had significantly better scores in most QOL measures. Patients treated with the combination of isradipine and captopril reported more favorable changes in the subjective measure of QOL (P < 0.03) and in semantic memory (P < 0.001) than patients treated with any of the monotherapies or with methyldopa in combination with captopril. There were no statistically significant differences among treatments for changes of other indices of QOL. In most QOL measurements, normotensives rated better then hypertensives. Patients treated on long-term therapy with the combination of isradipine and captopril showed improvement in self-structured QOL measures and semantic memory, compared to patients treated either with methyldopa or placebo.