In the experimental group, there were statistically significant decreases in both the systolic and diastolic BP when comparing baseline values with those at 6 months. The BP values were 144.23 mmHg (systolic) and 82.79 mmHg (diastolic) at baseline and 135.10 mmHg (systolic) and 77.65 mmHg (diastolic) at 6 months, (p<0.001).
In the control group, there were no statistically significant alterations in either systolic or diastolic BP when comparing baseline values with those at 6 months. The BP values were 142.91 mmHg (systolic) and 82.13 mmHg (diastolic) at baseline and 141.66 mmHg (systolic) and 80.67 mmHg (diastolic), (systolic, p=0.31; diastolic, p=0.06).
Over the 6 months, the reductions in BP were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. For systolic BP, the reductions were 9.13 mmHg in the experimental group versus 1.32 mmHg in the control group, (p<0.001). For diastolic BP, the reductions were 5.1 mmHg (experimental group) and 1.46 mmHg (control group), respectively, (p<0.001).
Within-group analyses of health-related quality of life showed that there were no statistically significant changes in quality of life in the experimental group when comparing baseline values with those at the final visit. In the control group, statistically significant reductions occurred in the physical functioning and general health domains, (p<0.01).
There were generally no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the patients' health-related quality of life at 6 months of follow-up. The exception was observed in the role-physical domain, in which the scores were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group, (p=0.03).