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Despite advances in HIV treatment, there continues to be great variability in the progression of this disease. This paper reviews the evidence that depression, stressful life events, and trauma account for some of the variation in HIV disease course. Longitudinal studies both before and after the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) are reviewed. To ensure a complete review, PubMed was searched for all English language articles from January 1990 to July 2007. We found substantial and consistent evidence that chronic depression, stressful events, and trauma may negatively affect HIV disease progression in terms of decreases in CD4 T lymphocytes, increases in viral load, and greater risk for clinical decline and mortality. More research is warranted to investigate biological and behavioral mediators of these psychoimmune relationships, and the types of interventions that might mitigate the negative health impact of chronic depression and trauma. Given the high rates of depression and past trauma in persons living with HIV/AIDS, it is important for healthcare providers to address these problems as part of standard HIV care.

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Health status assessment for persons with chronic illness includes not only symptoms, but also an appraisal of the psychosocial concomitants of illness. In this national study of persons with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), we standardized a disease-specific 25-item measure of perceived health status: the Rating Form of IBD Patient Concerns (RFIPC). Factor analysis yielded four indices: a) impact of disease (e.g., being a burden, loss of energy, loss of bowel control); b) sexual intimacy; c) complications of disease (e.g., developing cancer, having surgery, dying early); and d) body stigma (e.g., feeling dirty or smelly). A higher level of IBD concerns was associated with greater disease severity, female gender, and lower educational status. When controlling for these factors, as well as disease type and age, we found that concerns about: a) impact of disease was positively associated with poorer perception of health and well-being, greater psychological distress (SCL-90), and poorer daily function (Sickness Impact Profile) (p less than 0.0001); b) sexual intimacy was related to poorer psychologic function (p less than 0.01); and c) complications of disease was related to several measures of poorer daily function (p less than 0.0001 to 0.01). This standardized measure of the worries and concerns of persons with IBD may be used in clinical care and research to evaluate the effects of interventions on IBD patient outcomes.

The authors conclude that asking about abuse should be integrated into history taking within referral-based gastroenterology practices.