Evaluation on QOL of elderly patients with hypertension adopting TCM constitution-based health management

Objective To evaluate the effect of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medication) constitution-based health management on QOL (quality of life) of elderly patients with hypertension, and to explore the practical health management method for the local elderly patients with hypertension. Methods Through multistage stratified sampling and cluster randomization grouping method, 808 elderly patients with hypertension from three communities of Shanghai from July, 2014 to June, 2015 were included into the study on the basis of informed consent and voluntary participation. Regular health education and standardized community follow-up was conducted in the control group (400 cases), and on the basis of that, an additional one-year intervention of TCM constitution-based health management was conducted in the intervention group (408 cases). And the statistical analysis software was used to analyze the difference of the QOL of the participants between intervention group and control group. Results On either baseline or final survey, no significant difference among the demographic characteristics was found between intervention group and control group. All QOL scores of the control group participants at the final survey were lower than those at the baseline, so was the intervention group. But the decreased range of intervention group was less than that of control group, especially for the scores of overall life quality, psychology and environment domain. Conclusion Either in intervention group or in control group, the QOL scores of the participants tended to decline. TCM constitution-based health management could delay the declining range of QOL of elderly patients with hypertension. Applying the theory and methods of TCM constitution identification to the health management of elderly patients with hypertension, observing and analyzing QOL of patients while preventing and treating disease, and appropriately adjusting patients' psychological, social relations and support factors would be more conducive to control patients' blood pressure and improve their prognosis and quality of life.