Yueming Ding,1 Huiying Zhang,1 Zhiqing Hu,1 Yanjun Sun,1 Yiping Wang,2 Baolong Ding,3 Guofeng Yue,4 Yuan He1,5 

1Institute of Medical Humanities, School of Marxism, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 5Research Center for Social Risk Management of Major Public Health Events (Key Research Base of Philosophy and Social Sciences of Universities in Jiangsu), Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Yuan He, Institute of Medical Humanities, School of Marxism, School of Nursing, Research Center for Social Risk Management of Major Public Health Events (Key Research Base of Philosophy and Social Sciences of Universities in Jiangsu), Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, People’s Republic of China, Email heyuan@njmu.edu.cn Guofeng Yue, School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, People’s Republic of China, Email gfyue@njmu.edu.cn

Background: Improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among hypertensive individuals has emerged as a significant public health issue. However, current research has ignored the individual heterogeneity of perceived social support (PSS) among hypertensive patients. The potential mechanism of delay discounting (DD), living alone, and PSS on HRQoL remains unclear, and further exploration is required.
Aim: This study aimed to ascertain PSS profiles among hypertensive patients and examine the hypotheses that DD mediates the relationship between PSS and HRQoL and that this mediating process is moderated by living alone in hypertensive patients.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Jiangsu, China. In total, 1815 hypertensive patients completed socio-demographic and HRQoL questionnaires, a PSS scale, and a DD task. Data analyses included a latent profile analysis, χ2-test, Spearman correlation analysis, and PROCESS macro for regression analysis.
Results: Four potential PSS profiles were identified: lowest (3.2%), moderate–low (26.6%), moderate–high (42.4%), and highest (27.8%). DD mediated the association between PSS and HRQoL. The first half of this mediating process was moderated by living alone.
Conclusion: Our findings indicated that PSS, DD, and living alone significantly influence the HRQoL of individuals with hypertension. Healthcare professionals should consider variations in PSS among hypertensive patients and implement interventions to reduce DD by enhancing PSS, in order to improve the HRQoL of this population.

Keywords: perceived social support, delay discounting, health-related quality of life, living alone, hypertensive patients, latent profile analysis