Health-Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors among Hypertensive Patients Attending Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background:Hypertension, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, affects the quality of lifeof patients, especially elderly patients. Althougha few studies have determined the quality of life of hypertensive patients in Ethiopia, there is a lack of studies that have estimated the utility index to assist the economic evaluation of hypertension management interventions. Objectives: To evaluate the health-related quality of life and associated factors among hypertensive patients attending Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital. Method: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 404hypertensive patients who were attending Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital from March 10, 2025,to April 10, 2025. Data was collected by using structured questionnaires and validated EuroQol 5-dimensional-5 levels (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaires. Differences in health-related quality of life scores between patient subgroups were tested by the Mann-Whitney U or the Kruskal-Wallis test. A binary logistic regression will be used to examine the association between independent variables and outcome variables. All variables with a p-value < 0.25 in the logistic regression will be entered into the multivariable logistic regression to identify factors independently associated with the outcome variable. An odds ratio along with a 95% Confidence Interval at p-value < 0.05 was used to measure the strength of the association. Results: The magnitude of affected HRQOL among hypertensive patients was 44.3 %( 95%: 39.4, 49.3). The mean EQ-5D index score of hypertensive patients was 0.899(0.099). Factors such as old age (AOR = 2.23, 95%CI: 1.14–4.33), comorbidity (AOR =3.42, 95%CI: 1.54–7.59), poor self-reported health status (AOR = 2.87, 95%CI: 1.28–6.43), chewing khat (AOR = 5.83, 95%CI: 2.09–16.29) and not adhering to treatment (AOR = 2.41, 95%CI: 1.19–4.85) were significantly associated with affected HRQOL among hypertensivepatient. Conclusion: -More than two-fifths of hypertensive patients have affected HRQoL. Old age, comorbidity, poor health status, chewing khat, and not adhering to treatment were found to be significantly associated with affected HRQOL. Therefore, health institutions should establish a health literacy unit that provides health education and awareness on a health-promoting lifestyle for all patients, especially older individuals and patients with additional chronic illnesses. Keywords: Health-related quality of Life, Hypertension, Ethiopia