Objective: The purpose of our study was to evaluate in-terrelationship between clinical characteristics, socio-economic barriers and quality of life in hypertensive patients.

Methods: Study performed on 1277 patients aged 18-80 years with HTA. Characteristics: Age, gender, coun-try of origin, civil status, level of education, type of me-dical insurance, professional activity, average monthly gain; history of HTA, admission symptoms, risk fac-tors, co-morbidity, awareness and understanding of the disease, adherence to treatment, degree of autonomy in care. Measurement of adherence to treatment was done by MAQ questionnaires and adhesion scores. The quality of life assessment was done through the WHQ questionnaire (HRQoL) with questions on physical, psychological, social and environmental assessment. Statistical analysis used: SPSS, descriptive analysis, li-near regression. For the analysis of the quality of life and adherence to treatment, multivariate analysis was used.

Results: Characteristics: average age 54 +/- 15; 67% women; 68% married; 87% independent; 10% depend on another person; 17% higher education, 52% high school, 34% primary education, 7% no studies; 69% pensioners; monthly average incomme: 300 EUR; HTA history -7% (<5 years), 22% (5-10 years), 41% (10-20 years), 30% (> 20 years); 21% of smokers, 42% dyslipi-demia, 59% diabetus mellitus, 17% obesity, 9% stroke history, 24% anemia, 47% ischemic heart disease, 73% heart failure, 34% atrial fibrillation; number of dai-ly pills: 1-5%, 2-4%, 3-34%, >3 – 57%. Quality of life: the psychological field: statistically significant corre-lation with age, educational level, occupational status, monthly income, degree of independence, number of pills per day, co-morbidity; social and environmental domain: statistically significant correlation with the le-vel of training, professional activity, age, monthly in-come, civil status; physical domain: statistically signi-ficant correlation with age, degree of instruction. The relationship between the quality of life and the degree of adherence to treatment is not statistically significant. Awareness was significantly associated with all HRQoL plans.

Conclusions: T he findings of the study suggest that, when considering intervention efforts to improve the quality of life of patients with hypertension, an approach should be taken to change lifestyle, increase adherence to pharmacological therapy and psychologi-cal support.