INTRODUCTION: High Blood Pressure (HBP), also known as Hypertension, is one of the major worldwide public health problems and mainly affects elderly women. Hypertensive patients may have their quality of life (QOL) affected by comorbidities associated with this disease. Thus, resistance training (RT) has been increasingly recommended as a non-pharmacological therapy for HBP since it contributes to reduce the disability level in individuals with and without cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVE: To assess QOL through generic (SF-36) and specific (MINICHAL) questionnaires in elderly with controlled hypertension undergoing a resistance training program. METHODS: RT was developed for eight weeks, three times per week on alternated days. The intensity of the RT was periodized throughout the training. For the QOL assessment, the SF-36 and MINICHAL were used before and after the RT program. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for statistical analysis to verify data normality, and the t-Student test was applied to compare pre and post training results, with the significance level set as p < 0.05. RESULTS: The analysis of the SF-36 showed increase in the average value of almost all variables, in contrast only to the social and mental health domains. There was significant difference only for general health (GH) (p = 0.02). Concerning the MINICHAL, no significant difference was observed in the areas examined, although reduction in the average value of all variables had been identified. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the RT was effective when related to the GH field from the SF-36. However, no change was evident in the QOL of the elderly women when they were evaluated through the MINICHAL questionnaire.
elderly; hypertension; training; quality of life
