This study shows that under well-designed conditions, Tai Chi exercise training could decrease blood pressure and results in favorable lipid profile changes and improve subjects' anxiety status. Therefore, Tai Chi could be used as an alternative modality in treating patients with mild hypertension, with a promising economic effect.

Aims. To examine the predictive effects of illness perception on adherence to therapeutic regimens of patients with hypertension. Background. Illness perception is an important predictor for adherence to therapeutic regimens. Hypertension is asymptomatic. How the lay views, especially identity and causal attribution, affect the patients' adherence to therapeutic regimens need to be further explored. Design. A cross-sectional survey. Methods. Purposive sampling was conducted at the cardiovascular clinics of two teaching hospitals in central Taiwan. A sample of 277 patients was included in this study. Guided by the Self Regulation Model, a series of variables including sociodemographic variables, clinical variables, illness representations, identity and causes were evaluated for their relationships with adherence to the antihypertensive regimen and recommendations of self-management. Results. Predictors of adherence to prescribed medications in the hierarchical logistic regressions were treatment control, risk factors and psychological attribution. In the self-management model, we found that symptoms experienced after a hypertension diagnosis, symptoms for blood pressure prediction, personal control, balance and cultural causal attribution were significant predictors of adherence to self-management, adding an additional 21% of the variance. The results of analysis of variance showed that those who were unsure if they had experienced symptoms after a hypertension diagnosis were more likely to selfregulate (increase or decrease) prescribed medications than those without symptoms. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the Self Regulation Model may provide a useful framework for understanding and explaining adherence to therapeutic regimens of patients with hypertension across cultures. Relevance to clinical practice. Factors that affect the patients' adherence to prescribed medications and self-management recommendations differ greatly. Despite its subjectivity, identity showed significantly predictive effects on adherence to selfmanagement. Understanding patients' lay views on hypertension allows health professionals providing effective care for better adherence to therapeutic regimens.

The purpose of this randomized, controlled clinical trial was to preliminarily examine the effects of a three-week walking exercise program (WEP) on fatigue-related experiences of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) patients receiving chemotherapy. Eligible AML patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=11), which received 12 minutes of WEP per day, five days per week for three consecutive weeks, or to a control group (n=11), which received standard ward care. Effects of the WEP were assessed by seven indicators: worst and average fatigue intensities, fatigue interference with patients' daily life, 12-minute walking distance, overall symptom distress, anxiety, and depressive status. All patients were evaluated four times: before chemotherapy (baseline or Day 1), Day 7, Day 14, and Day 21 of chemotherapy. Data were analyzed by Generalized Estimating Equation and revealed that AML patients in the three-week WEP group had a significantly greater increase in 12-minute walking distance than the control group. Patients in the WEP also had lower levels of fatigue intensity and interference, symptom distress, anxiety, and depressive status than the control group. Although preliminary, our results strongly suggest that three weeks of systematic walking exercise is clinically feasible for AML patients undergoing chemotherapy and can effectively improve their fatigue-related experiences.

This study underscores the importance of general obesity and central obesity as risk factors for prehypertension in the Taiwanese adult population. These two indices of obesity have different impacts on men and women.

. Tsai JC, Chan P, Wang CH, Jeng C, Hsieh MH, Kao PF, Chen YJ, Liu JC (Taipei Medical University‐Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan). The effects of exercise training on walking function and perception of health status in elderly patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease. J Intern Med 2002; 252: 448–455. Objective. To determine the effects of 12‐week exercise programme on ambulatory function, free‐living daily physical activity and health‐related quality of life in disabled older patients with intermittent claudication. Design. Prospective, randomized controlled trial. Setting. University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Subjects. Thirty‐two of 64 patients with Fontaine stage II peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) were randomized to exercise training and 32 to usual care control. Five patients from the exercise group and six patients from the control group dropped out, leaving 27 and 26 patients, respectively, completing the study in each group. Interventions. Twelve weeks of treadmill exercise training. Main outcome measures. Treadmill walking time to onset of claudication pain and to maximal claudication pain, 6‐min walk distance, self‐reported ambulatory ability and perceived health‐related quality of life (QOL). Results. Compliance of exercise programme was 83% of the possible sessions. Exercise training increased treadmill walking time to onset of claudication pain by 88% (P < 0.001), time to maximal pain by 70% (P < 0.001), and 6‐min walk distance by 21% (P < 0.001). Subjects. Perception of health‐related QOL improved from 12% to 178% in the exercise group. These improvements were significantly better than the changes in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions. Significant improvements in claudication following 12‐week exercise training in elderly PAOD patients were observed. Increase in treadmill walking time to maximal claudication pain in these patients translated into the improvement of perceived physical health, which enabled the patients to become more functionally independent.

No abstract

No abstract

The Chinese Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised is a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of illness perceptions in patients with hypertension.