THERAPY

Antihypertensive agents do not adversely affect quality of life

Results from a meta-analysis have demonstrated that antihypertensive medications do not produce any negative effects on quality of life (QOL). Several QOL parameters showed improvement, and these improvements may have been greater if the drug used had been tailored to the individual patient rather than randomised in a clinical trial.

A literature search identified 9 studies, published between 1970 and 1990, using 14 drugs from 6 pharmacological groups which were included in the meta-analysis. All the studies were randomised, blinded clinical trials of antihypertensive drug therapy and all used patients as their own controls. 1620 patients with hypertension, comprising 27 population groups, were included in these studies.

Small improvements in sleep, psychomotor, general wellbeing and mood measures were found after treatment, but no effect of treatment on sexual function could be determined. When drug type was considered, ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium antagonists and diuretics all produced improvements in QOL parameters. No changes from baseline were noted for centrally acting alpha agonists or vasodilators. No negative effects were noted in any QOL parameter or for any drug group. No negative effect for any QOL measure was found after treatment with any drug group.

A positive effect was more commonly found for ACE inhibitors and beta blockers; however, no drug group was clearly superior and patient numbers in the other drug groups were small. Beto JA. Bansal VK. Quality of life in treatment of hypertension. A metaanalysis of clinical trials. American Journal of Hypertension 5: 125·133. Mar 1992 "50

ISSN 0156-2703/92/0425-0013/$1.00/0 C AlB .... naIianaI lid INPHARMA. 25 ." 1992

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