The association of psychological stress and health related quality of life among patients with stroke and hypertension in Gaza Strip

The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was applied to 112 hypertensive patients with hypertension plus stroke and 224 hypertensive patients without stroke. Psychological stress was assessed with SCL-90. Means scale scores were compared using student-t-test and predictors of QOL were calculated with covariance analysis.Patients with stroke had a significant lower QOL than patients without stroke and a significantly higher level of stress (p < 0.01). In analyses of covariance psychological stress was significantly correlated to all domains of QOL among non-stroke patients. The same psychological and sociodemographic factors showed little impact on the stroke patients in these multivariable analyses. In these models psychological stress had a significant impact on the global domain of QOL among stroke patients. Income and gender were the only sociodemographic factors being significantly associated with the physical (education) and social (gender) domains of QOL in stroke patients.Psychological stress was strongly correlated with all domains of QOL in patients without stroke and was only partly associated with QOL among patients with stroke. Future studies should investigate if psychological stress is a factor suitable for educational and psychological interventions aiming at stress reduction in CVD patients which might substantially contribute to better health related quality of life in these patients.Quality of life (QOL) is a phrase often used in health care settings at policy and administration levels, in clinical assessments of therapies, and in clinical management of individual cases. While QOL is a broad concept that covers such areas as social, environmental, economic, and health satisfaction, health-related quality of life (HRQL) is less wide ranging, including mental and physical health and their consequences. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is considered as one of the key concepts in contemporary practice of medicine and delivery of health care [1-4]. Quality of