OBJECTIVES: In chronic conditions such as hypertension, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an especially important outcome, given their lifelong nature and the need for daily self-management. We aimed to assess HRQoL among people with hypertension in Korea.  METHODS: A prospective, observational study was carried out on hypertensive patients from 21 medical centers throughout Korea. A total of 273 hypertensive patients 45-75 year-old males or 55-75 year-old females were assessed for Health-Related QoL (HRQoL). HRQoL was assessed on 8 dimensions of the SF-36 questionnaire.  RESULTS: Patients with hypertension were 60±7.6 years old (44.3% female), had hypertension for 5±5.2 years. In total, 39.2% had hypertension and hyperlipidemia; 12.8% had hypertension and diabetes. HRQoL physical component mean scores (PCS) were determined as 49.7±7.2, and mental component mean scores (MCS) were determined as 50.3±9.3. Women had consistently lower scores on all dimensions of SF-36, indicating poorer HRQoL. There were no significant differences by age, duration of hypertension in any of the SF components. HRQoL MCS of patients with combined hypertension and diabetes were lower than that of the other group (p=0.021). In the hypertensive patients with diabetes revealed poorer mental functioning compared with those with hyperlipidemia (HRQoL MCS: 47.0±9.8, 52.0±8.8, respectively). The scale scores (0-100 scoring) in all eight dimensions of SF-36 were 81.2±21.7 in physical functioning, 86.2±23.1 in role-physical, 79.6±23.7 in bodily pain, 58.2±18.8 in general health, 62.2±21.0 in vitality, 89.4±18.3 in social function, 87.8±22.0 in role-emotional, 74.0±20.1 in mental health.  CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension seems to comparably impair HRQoL in Korea. The coexistence of hypertension and diabetes, in particular, has a more negative effect on HRQoL. The findings suggest that QoL in hypertensive patients has similar trend compared to the results from national health survey aiming at residents in Korea (Utility weight for hypertension: 0.77 from 2005 KNHANES).