Impact of Yoga on Blood Pressure, Quality of Life and Stress in Patients With Hypertension

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of a short yoga program practiced daily at home on blood pressure, quality of Life and stress. The subjects of the study are primary health care patients diagnosed with hypertension, with or without current medication.

Detailed Description
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Hypertension is one of the most common diseases in the world, affecting approximately 26% of the adult population. Persistent hypertension increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure. Hypertension is a common diagnosis in primary health care and the societal costs of examination and treatment of hypertension and its consequences are considerable. The YHIP-study (The Impact of Yoga on Blood Pressure and Quality of Life in Patients With Hypertension), that investigated yoga as additional treatment for hypertension on primary care patients, showed that a short yoga program practiced daily at home had a blood pressure lowering effect as well as a positive effect on self-rated quality of life compared to control. Other previous studies have demonstrated positive effects of yoga on blood pressure, quality of life, subjective well-being and stress. However, these studies are relatively few and we need to further investigate the possibility of using yoga as a treatment in primary health care. If the yoga intervention shows to be effective, yoga exercises may be useful as a supplementary BP therapy in addition to medical treatment when prescribed by primary care physicians. It is to be hoped that patients will also experience a higher quality of life and less stress if they perform yoga on a regular basis.

Official Title
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Impact of Yoga on Blood Pressure, Quality of Life and Stress in Patients With Hypertension - A Randomized Controlled Multicenter Trial in Primary Care

Conditions
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Hypertension

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Yoga


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 30-80 years old Diagnosed with hypertension since at least one year Blood pressure 130-160 mm Hg systolic and/or 85-100 diastolic at the last blood pressure control by doctor or nurse. Blood pressure within inclusion- and exclusion-limits at baseline control Exclusion Criteria: Blood pressure outside the range of 120-180 systolic and 80-110 diastolic at the last blood pressure control or at baseline control. Medical adjustments regarding hypertension within 4 weeks prior to begin of study. Expected inability to understand instructions about yoga exercises (e.g dementia and mental retardation) or physical or psychical inability to carry out yoga exercises (e.g severe physical or psychical handicap). Need for interpreter. Linguistic/language difficulties

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 30 Years
Maximum Age: 80 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Control<br>No changes will be made for the participants in the control group, but they will undergo the same measurements and evaluations as the intervention group. | |
| Active Comparator: yoga<br>Two yoga exercises to perform at home 15 minutes twice daily. | Other: Yoga<br>* The participants in the Yoga group will get a private doctors appointment (20 minutes) where they get instructions for two yoga exercises to perform at home 15 minutes twice a day. The two yoga exercises were: Left nostril breathing - deep breaths in and out through the left nostril while sitting or lying down, with the right nostril closed off by the right thumb or an earplug (about 11 minutes); and Spinal flex - movement that alternates between flexing the spine forwards (arching) and relaxing the spine back in time with deep breaths while sitting in a chair (about 4 minutes).<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hypertension | At the beginning of the study, all subjects will undergo a standardized blood pressure test with an hypertension monitor. After 12 weeks, all subjects in the intervention and control groups will again be requested to attend a blood pressure testing session | 12 weeks | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quality of life | At the beginning of the study, all subjects will be requested to fill in a questionnaire about their quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). After 12 weeks all subjects in the intervention and control groups will fill in the quality of life-form for a second time. | 12 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Yoga, Hypertension, Quality of Life, Primary Health Care, Stress, Anxiety, Depression