Assessment of quality of life in people living with HIV in Georgia

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to assess quality of life (QoL) among Georgian HIV-infected individuals and to examine factors associated with QoL. Our cross-sectional study sample consisted of 201 HIV-infected adult outpatients recruited at the National AIDS Center in Tbilisi, Georgia. WHOQOL-HIV-BREF was used to measure QoL. Data about other variables of interest were obtained from medical records. Modified Poisson regression with robust variance estimates was performed to create a predictive model of factors that influenced QoL. The study results showed the following factors as predictors of good general QoL: antiretroviral (ARV) treatment (prevalence ratio (PR)=2.87 (95% CI: 1.45, 5.67)); higher education level (PR = 1.51 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.17)); CD4 cells ≥200 cells/mm3 (PR = 1.83 (95% CI: 1.13, 2.94)); and age ≥40 years (PR = 1.60 (95% CI: 1.09, 2.36)). However, all factors examined were associated with at least one QoL domain. Our study suggests that HIV-infected individuals younger than 40 years and those with lower education level are more likely to have poorer QoL, while those receiving ARV treatment tend to have better QoL. This highlights the importance of educational interventions and ARV treatment in HIV patients. Future research should seek to implement additional evidence-based actions to improve QoL in this population.

Health-Related Quality of Life Among Admitted HIV/AIDS Patients in Selected Ethiopian Tertiary Care Settings: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The lowest healthrelated quality of life was documented for the physical domain of QoL. In contrary to this finding, several studies reported better physical health-related QoL in Ethiopia [26] and other regions [18,20,27]. The possible explanation for this finding is that the participants were symptomatic and burdened with physical symptoms of the disease, which in turn, impairs HRQoL [28].…”

A cross sectional study to assess the satisfaction level among people living with HIV/AIDS in a hilly state of northern India

“…Karkashadze et al and Bakiono et al also noted that majority of patients were asymptomatic at the time of study which is quite similar to our study. 12,13 In our study, more than half (58.1%) patients had the disease due to sexual route of transmission while 38.1% patients don't know their mode of transmission. It is likely that they were unaware of the mode of transmission because of low literacy and lack of knowledge about the different routes of transmission of HIV.…”

Calidad de vida relacionada a la salud en personas con VIH y factores asociados

“…Se describe menor score de CVRS asociado a menor nivel de escolaridad (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) , depresión/ansiedad (3,6,(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) , preocupación financiera, falta de soporte económico o social (6,9,10,11,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) , presencia de síntomas (14,(21)(22)(23) , estigma o preocupación por la confidencialidad (12,17,23,24) , consumo de drogas y alcohol (4,5) , comorbilidades (4,5,25) , bajo nivel de confianza o pobre relacionamiento con el staff médico y menor accesibilidad al sistema de salud (11,17,25) .…”

“…El espectro va desde peor score en CVRS en personas con bajo recuento de CD4 (6,22,26,33) y mayor score entre aquellos con mejor inmunidad (4,31) , hasta aquellos que no encuentran asociación (5,10,11,19,22,34) . Son escasas las evidencias que muestran asociación de la CV indetectable con mejoría (34) o peoría (5) con el score de CVRS.…”

“…Los hallazgos respecto al uso de TARV también difieren. Se ha observado mejoría en CVRS en pacientes recibiendo TARV, especialmente cuando reciben su primer régimen (3,4,10,14,27,31,33) . En contraposición, se ha descrito peor CVRS en relación con efectos adversos y toxicidades vinculadas al TARV, como modificaciones corporales y lipodistrofia (3,6,9,21) .…”