Table 1.

Summary of focus group findings

Issue	Hypertensive patients with diabetes	Hypertensive patients without diabetes
Hypertension as a disease	Accept that hypertension is a chronic disease	See hypertension as a temporary physiological reaction to stress
Importance of hypertension	Hypertension has the potential to cause major damage but minor in comparison with diabetes	Hypertension has the potential to cause major damage
Impact of disease	As opposed to diabetes, which cause cumulative damage hypertension does no immediate damage and is a long term risk factor for an outcome that may or may not happen	Hypertension does no immediate damage and is a long term risk factor for an outcome that may or may not happen
Coping mechanisms	Treatment is easy compared to care of diabetes and becomes part of their routine	Treatment can be overwhelming and there are several different coping mechanisms
Impact of medication on sexual function	Effect is acknowledged but thought to be minor compared with diabetes	None of the male participants acknowledged any impact