Influence of antihypertensive drug treatment on the quality of life of hypertensive physicians

In a group of 237 hypertensive male and female physicians, a placebo-controlled randomized double-blind, cross-over trial was performed to investigate the effects of the ACE inhibitor captopril on blood pressure and well-being. A thoroughly tested standardized measurement of well-being was employed. On the basis of the multivariate linear model, differences in the response to treatment (t-tests for cross-over differences) were investigated in terms of the seven parameters of well-being measured. In comparison with placebo, captopril (50 mg once daily) had a significant effect on five of the seven parameters. Thus, mood, general well-being, work performance, regeneration and quality of sleep all improved under treatment. It was also found that these improvements were not an immediate consequence of blood pressure reduction. The standardized evaluation employed here thus proved to be an informative additional evaluation criterion of antihypertensive therapy.