In essential hypertensive patients; the relationship of salt intake with quality of life, anxiety and depression

Introduction and Aim: Hypertension is a common systemic disease in the society and it is an important health problem both in the world and in our country because it causes serious complications. In our study, it was planned to investigate whether there is a correlation between salt intake and quality of life, anxiety and depression in essential hypertensive patients. Method: 120 hypertensive patients who applied to our hospital's Nephrology Outpatient Department were included in the study. Connection between salt intake and emotional state of patients was evaluated by comparing SF-36, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) scores which were detected at 0, 1, and 6 months between the salt-restriction compliant or non-compliant patient subgroups. Results: When the HAD and SF-36 test results of 120 essential hypertensive patients were evaluated, statistically significant better results were observed both at the outset and at the 6 months parameters of patients who obey the salt restriction. Conclusion: In our study aiming to determine whether there is a connection between salt intake and quality of life and depression-anxiety in essential hypertensive patients; we found a statistically significant correlation between the state of being salt restriction compliant or non-compliant, which has been determined by the measurement of 24 hour urinary sodium excretion and depression, anxiety and quality of life both at 0 and 6 months. When we look at the literature, no studies comparing the salt intake with the quality of life and depression-anxiety in essential hypertensive patients have been found. Our study has the feature of being the first in this field. We think that it will shed light on other studies that will be executed with more patients and sophisticated tests. Key words: Essential Hypertension, SF-36, HAD, salt intake, quality of life.