Health state utilities of a population of Nigerian hypertensive patients

• Main Authors: Ekwunife Obinna I, Aguwa Cletus N, Adibe Maxwell O, Barikpaoar Ebenezer, Onwuka Chioma J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2011-12-01
• Series: BMC Research Notes
• Subjects: Quality of life; Hypertension; Cardiovascular disease (CVD); Validation; Nigeria
• Online Access: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/4/528

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Establishment of the health impact of hypertension on quality of life of Nigerians is a step towards controlling the disease. The study aimed to provide a Nigerian specific reference list of utility scores of hypertensive patients with various interacting conditions.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>An interviewer-based, cross-sectional study was conducted using hypertensive patients in two purposively selected tertiary hospitals located in South-Eastern Nigeria. Health Utility Index Mark 3 (HUI3) was used.</p> <p>A total of 384 participants with either hypertension alone or with hypertension-associated complications were interviewed in the two tertiary hospitals.</p> <p>The overall mean utility score was 0.35 +/- 0.42. Patients with hypertension alone had the highest overall mean utility score (0.57 +/- 0.29) while hypertensive patients with stroke had the lowest overall mean score (0.04 +/- 0.36). Being a male, increase in age and mean arterial blood pressure, emergency visit and loss of work due to illness were associated with significant decrease in overall utility scores.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study presented a reference for health state utilities of a population of Nigerian hypertensive patients.</p>